The Color Spectrum
by seek-to-enchant121584
Summary: A series of vignettes revolving around Alec, Max, and all the colors in the spectrum. Formally known as a response to the RH prompt "white". Now, a multi-chaptered fic with each chapter a color.
1. White

A/N: This is for the Raising Hell prompt _white_. But I just had to post it over here as well. This is a revised version, and hopefully a little more fine-tuned. Occasionally, I go through and reread my stories just to see if I can catch something I missed way back when I first wrote it. So here we go with the August '08 revamp. Hopefully, a few of you wonderful readers out there will come across it and give it a chance (or another, as the case may be). Anyway...I hope you all enjoy!

Music Suggestions: 'Show me' by Bree Sharp, 'Stop and stare' by One Republic, 'Breathe' by Michelle Branch, 'Live again' by Closure.

Disclaimer: Regretfully, I've never even come close to owning Dark Angel. This is as close as I can get.

The Color White

'_What was it about the white t-shirt and a pair of blue jeans on a man that made a girl's temperature rise?_' Max mused as she watched Alec saunter into the conference room for TC's weekly meeting in the aforementioned outfit looking good enough to eat.

She'd even heard OC sigh and point out a guy on occasion in what she'd dubbed "The Outfit". On some guys, it just held some kind of magical aura over them. Women just couldn't look away. Needless to say, Alec was one of them.

As her head tilted to one side as she stared, she had to admit that she didn't mind taking a appreciative peek once in awhile. She wasn't immune to the fact that Alec was good-looking. Alright, maybe more than just good-looking. So she liked the way his ass looked in those jeans and how his shirt stretched just so much over his shoulders to hint at the definition beneath it. And maybe she liked the ruffled and tousled look his hair had taken on since he'd let it grow out and it skimmed the collar of his shirt, practically making her itch to touch it. And maybe, just maybe, she'd taken on a new appreciation to the fact that he always had her back and she was beginning to become addicted to it.

However, she'd curse herself six ways from Sunday if Alec realized she was checking him out. She had to get a grip. If she didn't watch herself, she'd fall for him just like she had Logan. And just look at the spectacular train wreck that had resulted in.

"Max, were you daydreamin' about me again?" Alec teased as he sat down across from her and snapped his fingers in front of her face at her distant, stern expression.

Max rolled her eyes and batted his hand away from her face.

oooooozoo*ooooocoooo*ooooovoooo

Alec's head slowly turned away from the nomalie he'd been talking to and tuned out the conversation about TC's munition supply as he caught sight of Max walking down the street towards the secret exit in Logan's apartment. This was not the odd detail in the picture before him. While she and Logan may permanently be in the 'off-again' category, using the exit hidden in his apartment at the end of TC had become a regular occurrence for the few of TC's inhabitants that had the clearance to use it to go undercover outside the perimeter for supplies.

But rather it was the white knee-length dress that she was currently sporting that overrode all the functions in his body except for his eyes. The dress was pure perfection on Max, also meaning completely atypical, which was probably why it appealed to him so. It was a strapless, simple little thing that flowed down her body and billowed out slightly around her in a caress from the gentle spring breeze. There was nothing at all sexy about it. It wasn't tight or showing too much of anything. It was modest by modern standards. But when combined with her radiant olive complexion and dark brown hair falling down around her shoulders full of loose ringlets, it was no longer a simple dress by any standard.

"What is Medium Fella looking at?" Joshua asked when he failed to catch Alec's attention after he'd walked up, attempting to follow Alec's gaze as well.

"Oh, nothing, big guy." Alec said distractedly as he watched Max continue past them, on down the street and around the corner, completely oblivious to everything except the beautiful weather and having a few minutes to enjoy it. He then looked back to Joshua with a casual smirk and clapped him on the shoulder good-naturedly. "Just enjoying the view."

And there was no way he was letting her go out there alone. Did she have _any_ idea how much attention she was going to garner from the male population? They were trying to be inconspicuous, after all. She would be anything but. What she needed was something to pull some of the attention away from her. And what better way than to offset her classic beauty than with his rugged handsomeness?

At least, that's what he told himself. Because there was no way he was jealous over the thought of other men thinking about Max the same way he'd just been. Or worse.

"You know what, Joshua? I've gotta go." Alec said, backing away from Joshua, who began to look at him curiously.

"Why? Where Alec going?" Joshua asked suspiciously, eyes narrowing.

"Oh, you know, just more of the usual." Alec replied candidly, winking to Joshua before turning around and jogging down the street to catch up with Max.

oooooonooo*ooooooaoo

"Alec, don't you dare." Max clipped out moments before he flashed her that mischievous smirk of his and tossed her behind the mountainous stack of 40 lb bags of flour. Alec shut and bolted the door to the storage room behind him before leaping over the stack himself and squeezing down into the tight space by resting on top of her, seeing as there was only a narrow strip of two feet or so of space between the wall of flour and the wall. Small clouds of white dust that had long since leaked out of the many holes that riddled the abandoned flour store-up quickly settled in around them in protest to their disturbance.

"Alec, this isn't..." Max began to rant, but was cut off by Alec's finger resting lightly against her lips as he held his head up to pay attention to the footsteps approaching.

"Now isn't the best time." Alec said quietly so that only she could hear.

Max hesitated as her tongue almost darted out to taste his finger covering her lips. Now was not the time for an 'I want Alec' flare-up. But it was so very hard when he was pressing into her in just about every pleasurable way conceivable. The seconds tickled by agonizingly slow.

"If you could only see yourself." Alec jaunted quietly a few minutes later when it sounded as if the trouble had passed. Her hair was a dull greyish color with the fine layering of flour coating it, streaks of flour across her face, and the flour that was no doubtedly all down her back was reflected down the front of her shirt and pants as well.

Max quirked an eyebrow in response, the rest of her face impassive. The hand that had collected a fist full of flour in preparation for attack snaked up from between them and she then rubbed it into his hair and part of his face.

She smiled and replied, "I could say the same for you."

"Now Max, that was hardly fair." Alec said, shaking his head in disapproval as he fell back on his knees to push himself up into a standing position.

"And you've left me no choice." Alec continued as he held his hand out to help her up. At her quizzical expression as she took his hand and stood beside him, he scooped up a hand full of flour, pulled open the back of her shirt, and dumped it down her shirt. She gasped and her eyes widened in surprise as he let go of her shirt and patted her on the back a few times before he stepped back and stared at her in challenge.

Max's entire demeanor shifted as her eyes closed slowly and she drew in a deep breath. She even smiled as she knelt down slightly to collect some flour in her hand. Standing back up, she held out her other hand and said sweetly, "Come here, Alec."

"Oh, hell no. You're gonna hurt me." Alec said, backing away from her, but forgetting the confined space they were in. She backed him into the wall, her eyes never leaving his.

"Do you know what I want, Alec?" Max asked in a seductive tone inches from his face, her finger trailing lightly down his cheek.

"One night of unending pleasure?" Alec supplied, both wary and intrigued as to the motive behind this game, temporarily forgetting where they were and what Max had in her other hand.

Max shook her head sadly in the negative. "I'm sorry. That's the wrong answer. Let me show you the correct one." Max said in a chastising tone, backing away from him.

Alec hardly had time to stew over that answer before she yanked him forward as she dumped the flour down the front of his shirt, flipped over his head, and pushed him face first into the mounds of flour that she had just been lying in.

Laughing, Max then jumped up onto the top of the flour wall and sat down to look down at him as he rolled over onto his back to look up at her incredulously.

"What? You left me no choice." Max turned his earlier phrase back at him before spinning around on her butt and leaping off the wall.

As she reached the door, Alec called out to her. She turned around to look at him curiously, snorting back laughter at his appearance and his stance at the top of the wall.

"Catch." Alec ordered, dipping down quickly and swinging up a sack of opened flour, letting it rain down on her.

ooooooosoo*oooooocooo*

"Boo, in case you didn't know, flour is not very good camouflage. And it's meant to be eaten, not worn." OC teased as Max trudged into her apartment later that night, covered head to toe in the white powder.

"Tell that to Alec. I don't think he got the message." Max said, failing to suppress the smile that tugged at her lips as she walked past OC and into the bathroom.

ooooooouoo*oooooonooo*

Alec stood in the doorway, looking on as Max tended to the newborn baby lying on the changing table before her. The baby cooed happily as Max tickled its little toes after she finished snapping up the standard white onesie she'd dressed the baby in.

This should be a happy moment. And it was something he finally realized he wanted when he heard Max laugh happily and lift the baby into her arms, cradling it against her chest. But all he felt was shame and regret. Not about the baby, but that he'd used Max. She came to him looking for a safe place to hide until her heat was over, and he'd been unable to resist her. He knew that neither of them had been ready for the situation and what would happen if he didn't tell her to leave, yet he hadn't been strong enough to turn her away. He never was.

He'd screwed up once again. Fundamentally.

"Alec, don't you dare apologize again. I've heard it enough." Max said softly yet forcefully without turning around as she bounced the baby around gently in one arm. Turning around to face him, he saw that her face displayed a hint of irritation, but mostly, it was joy illuminating her features as she looked down at the baby in her arms and touched her finger to its tiny nose.

She smiled when the baby reached up and grabbed onto her finger and pulled it away as if irritated by the gesture.

"She's already so strong. And she seems to understand what I'm saying to her whenever I talk to her. It's unbelievable." Max spoke in wonder, looking back up to Alec.

"She's a she?" Alec asked stupidly, stating the obvious. He hadn't even known whether it was a boy or a girl. He hadn't even been there when she was born, he hadn't been able to make it back in time. And needless to say, he'd been avoiding the issue since his return from the supply mission three days previous, trying to work up the courage to stand before Max feeling like a complete failure. "Max, I..."

"Save it. It isn't your fault. None of it." Max stated again as she looked back up at him, cutting him off by shaking her head. "I was in heat, I came to you, and we ended up having sex...lots and lots of gratifying, mind-altering, copulatory sex. That's all there is to it. There is no one to blame.

"Her name is Pandora." Max finished, returning her gaze back down to the baby as she pulled her finger back and forth with the little fist refusing to let go. Pandora smiled as she stared up at Max.

Alec's eyebrow quirked up curiously before he asked, "You mean like the box? Isn't that a bad thing?"

Max rolled her eyes at the baby, who appeared to return an expression that said 'Aww...he really is that stupid' before letting go of her mom's finger and beginning to move around fretfully.

"It's Greek translation means 'all gifted'. I thought it fit rather well. She seems to like it as well." Max explained, cradling her other arm underneath Pandora before rocking her around gently to quiet her.

"What, did you two discuss it?" Alec asked in a teasing manner, moving from the doorway and into the room slightly, the tenseness beginning to leave his body.

"As a matter of fact...we did." Max said in a superior tone, giving Alec a look that dared him to make a wisecrack. He held his arms out in a surrendering gesture and gave her a 'you're crazy' look.

"We decided on it a few days ago." Max explained. "She would cry and get fussy at every other name I suggested and we'd been at it for days. Joshua suggested Pandora at lunch yesterday while Gem was babysitting for me. Said he saw it in a book with Greek translations and he knew I was having trouble with names. Went to pick her up at Gem's, I held her up so we were face level, and I said 'Hello, Pandora.' She laughed and cooed happily. I took that as a yes. So, there you go." Max finished with a definitive nod.

"Besides, I think it's kinda symbolic." Max added in a light tone as Alec continued to stare at the baby in her arms as if he hadn't heard a single word she'd said.

Max could see the curiosity and wonder in his eyes, as well as the question he hadn't yet asked.

"Would you like to hold her?" Max asked, stepping forward a few steps and holding out Pandora for him to take. His eyes widened in fear for a fraction of a second before it disappeared and he bridged the gap as he held his arms out, plucking her from Max's embrace.

He held the baby up at face level, just staring at the miracle before him. Pandora reflected his blank expression, bringing her hands up and touching his face in curiosity. Max looked on in amusement at the sight of Alec holding a baby like he'd never seen one before. Pandora then laughed and smacked at his face with both hands in acceptance. It broke Alec out of his trance, bringing the baby down to cradle her in the crook of his left arm. He used the other hand to inspect her hands and feet. Yep, she had ten fingers and ten toes. Perfection bundled up in a seven pound baby girl.

"Well, you've gotta hand it to Manticore." Alec said a few minutes later, after having just stood there in a reflective silence with the baby in his arms.

"How so?" Max asked with a laughing lilt to her voice.

"Because we sure as hell made one good-looking kid." Alec replied proudly, looking back up at Max with a smirk. "With your good looks and my personality, we'll have to beat all the potential suitors back with a stick. Everybody's gonna love her."

"Excuse me?" Max asked, drawing out the first word and putting a hand on her hip. "This isn't just a pretty face." she continued, pointing to her face. "Why can't she get my personality as well?"

"C'mon Max. Just look at how well she takes to me. She's a people person. And you're...well...not. The truth hurts." Alec explained in a mock-serious tone with a sorry expression.

"Alec, if you weren't holding Pandora, I'd..." Max trailed off, trying and failing to hold a withering expression.

"...Take me in the next room for some overdue lovin'?" Alec supplied hopefully, his eyes brightening.

"Not quite." Max laughed out, holding her hands out for Pandora.

"See you later, kid." Alec said to Pandora, trailing a finger down her face before handing her over to Max. Max held her up and rubbed her nose against Pandora's lightly, kissed it, and turned back towards the crib. Laying her down, Pandora began to protest by kicking out with her legs and sucking in air to wail loudly.

"It's time to take a nap, little one. We've been over this. Besides, you've had a long day." Max said, leaning down and resting her hand lightly against Pandora's body in a placating way. The cry subsided into feeble hiccuping cries and her legs began to still. But Pandora still frowned up at Max stubbornly.

"Alec, come over here and tell your daughter it's time to sleep." Max ordered, looking at him over her shoulder.

"Maybe she isn't tired." Alec suggested after getting over the surprise of the 'daughter' word. Max merely stared back at him pointedly.

"She is. I think I'd know better than you at this point." Max retorted, brooking no more room for argument.

"Okay..." Alec said slowly. He walked over to the crib and put his arm around Max, leaning down to the same level.

"I think you should listen to the commander over here. She knows what she's talkin' about. She wouldn't try and mislead you. If she says you need a nap, you should probably try and take one, you hear?" Alec said in a conspiratorial tone, shaking his head in an agreeable fashion. Max raised her arm and smacked him as she rolled her eyes.

Pandora cooed and giggled in response. Alec smiled back before pulling away, taking Max with him.

"Her eyes are already changing color. Right now they're a greyish green. But it's too early to tell whose sleeping pattern she's taken after." Max said quietly as she led Alec into the kitchen, as it was the furthest from the baby.

"I guess we'll just have to wait and see." Alec said, including himself in that wait.

"Yeah, I guess so." Max said, a genuine smile echoing his.

oooooouooo*oooooooxoo*ooooosooo

You can also find this over at Raising Hell, which is where I got the challenge. Alright, I had originally intended the first three scenes, but when I saw the word count, I was like "how can I extend this?" I believe it to be physically impossible for myself to write something less than 1000 words. As for the whole baby scene, I can't honestly say how I came up with that one. But 'Pandora' does actually mean 'all gifted' in Greek. At least, that's what they say over on the KryssTal website of names. I saw that and I couldn't resist. Plus, I didn't mention this in the story, but I also interpreted naming the baby Pandora as what would happen if Max and Alec did hook up and have a baby. Like opening up a box you shouldn't go anywhere near. Curiosity is a killer, after all. Let me know what you think or if something confuses you. I can be real good at explaining the way my mind works when writing some of these scenes (if you're left thinking, "huh?", that is). Anyway, WBL.


	2. Red

Author's notes: Yeah, I'm back. It has definitely been too long. This is idea I came up with _awhile_ back. You know, the whole "ROYGBIV" business? Here are the rest of the color, starting with red. If any of you have any ideas, for any color at all, _please_ tell me about them. So...on with the story.

Music Suggestions: 'Next contestant' by Nickelback, 'For a pessimist I'm pretty optimistic' by Paramore, 'No one' by Alicia Keys.

Disclaimer: Dark Angel is..._not_ mine.

Red

'One would think that after all this time, other men would learn to back away from what wasn't his and find something that didn't already belong to an entirely too possessive transgenic man,' Alec thought to himself as yet another X5 thought he could take Max away from him. And all this was because he and Max hadn't "exclusively mated" as so many of the transgenic population were terming it these days.

"Back away from her. Now." Alec ordered in a low threatening tone as he came to stand in front of Max, his stance rigid and his eyes staring at the ground before the rogue transgenic Caden that was threatening Max. "She clearly isn't interested." If anyone had any common sense within the Seattle city limits, they could clearly see that both he and Max were the last two transgenics you wanted to deal with. Especially considering their two year old daughter, Pandora.

Because, next to Max, he wouldn't hesitate to kill anyone that threatened his baby girl.

"I don't believe you have the strength to stand behind such words." Caden retorted levelly, ignoring the cold glint that was glaring at him from Alec's death-inducing stare. "She is not yours to claim. Perhaps the child, but not the female behind you. Sure, you two have had...relations in the past, but there is no mark that puts her out-of-bounds." Caden continued conversationally, circling around Alec and Max as he spoke. "By the way, I've heard she's a real firecracker in bed. As wild as an animal during her heats. And you were always the type to share in the past. Why not this one? What makes her so special?" Caden finished as he came to stand before them once again with a smug look on his face.

"Because this female doesn't like to be owned." Max growled out from behind Alec, surging around him and landing a solid right hook between Caden's eyes as she finished speaking.

You see, sometimes letting boys have their pissing contests worked to a woman's advantage.

"This is funny. I bet you'll laugh when you hear it." Max continued conversationally as she knelt down beside the prone Caden, who moaned softly in response. Max's expression then turned serious as she brought her fist around. It's destination: the family jewels.

It really never did get old.

Caden gasped out, a pained high-pitched sound escaping his lips. Alec cringed and his arms swung up haphazardly in surprise, as if to defend himself from the blow as well. Recovering, Alec then strode over to Max and held his hand out to her.

"Jeez, Max. Couldn't you let _me_ handle a situation just once? I am capable of doing so, you know." Alec asked reproachfully, a smile tugging at his lips in contradiction to his tone as he looked down at her.

Tisking him playfully, she took his extended hand and stood up. "You boys never learn, do you?" Max said haughtily as they walked away from the scene. "Sometimes all you need to settle a situation concerning a man seeing red is a woman's finesse."

ooooooouoo*oooooomooo*

Alec knew by now that the holidays made you do stupid and crazy things you wouldn't normally do. Especially when the woman you were doing said crazy things for was Max. And that for Christmas there was always a Santa required, but did she really think that he looked anything like Santa?

"Come on now, Max. Isn't this a little much? Why couldn't we just pin up a picture of Santa, exchange presents, and be done with it? It's not like there is actually a Santa Claus, anyway. Pandora is smart enough to have figured that out on her own by now." Alec complained as he tugged on the white beard and wig, trailing behind Max as she strode purposefully down the narrow walkway behind the stage in the community hall they'd established.

Max stopped in her tracks suddenly and spun around to face Alec, the red velvety Santa coat and stocking cap in her hands.

"Alec, stop arguing with me on this. I don't care if she knows better or not." Max said in a forceful tone, holding out the coat for him to slide his arms into. "We never had the chance to have all of this. The next generation will. So, go out there and be merry, damn it." Max finished emotively as she jammed the final piece, the red stocking hat, on his head and whirling him back around to face her to push him closer to the stage.

"Don't think I'm doing this just because you're pregnant again. That wasn't a heat cycle and you were the instigator. I just went along for the ride. Well...there was more than one..." Alec argued feebly as Max continued to shove him towards the stage where all the children were gathered.

"Are you kidding me?" Max exclaimed incredulously, her mood cranking up from mildly irritated to full-out pissed. "If you weren't so damned sexy and irresistible, I wouldn't have a problem with wanting to jump you all the time. I don't need you to raise Pandora. I just keep you around for looks. If you would just be..." Max trailed off at Alec's amused expression looking back at her. "Ooh, I can't believe I'm having this argument with you."

Max ended her diatribe with a sound crack to the side of his head, her lips pursing. Shouldn't he know not to work up a pregnant woman? "If I weren't seven months pregnant and unable to lift my legs past my stomach, I'd so kick your ass right now. I'll never understand why you won't just go away."

Alec turned around so that he was completely facing Max, the look on his face openly displaying the love and affection he felt for the woman before him. Placing the palm of one hand against her cheek in a placating gesture while the other rested lightly against her protruding belly, he said softly, "I'll never leave you. It doesn't matter what you do, you can't push me away. I'm just persistent like that." Resting his forehead against hers, he then said with a teasing half-smile, "I was just messing with you, you know."

Max closed her eyes and sighed deeply, the anger dissipating just as quickly as it had appeared. Her eyes reopened to stare up at him, returning his gaze.

"Go on and go now before we start losing them. I swear Manticore must have laced all of our DNA with ADD." Max joked lightly in response, jerking her head slightly in the direction of the stage. Her hand rose up and took his away from her face, squeezing it encouragingly before releasing it so he could move.

He backed away from her with a mischievous smirk and a salute before pivoting around and onto the stage overlooking the room packed with children ranging from three to fifteen in age.

As Max looked out from behind the curtain, she couldn't mistake her daughter's confused voice and laughed to herself as Pandora whispered to a friend, "Why is my daddy dressed so funny?"

ooooooxooo*oooooozooo*ooooooaooo

So...good? Bad? I know it's a _lot_ shorter than "White", but at that time, I'd thought that that would be it and crammed as much in as I could. In later chapters, I intend to introduce two more of my original characters, playmates for Pandora. And I do intend for Pandora to be fully grown by the end of the color spectrum series. Anyway, I believe that's it for now. Until next time...


	3. Orange

**Author's Note**: Hey you guys! (Goonies flashback) This chapter is quite a mouthful. It starts off kinda sad, but I didn't know how else to get around it. It's background for the first of my two boys being brought into the story, Sebastian. My other, Mason, also gets introduced in this chapter. But only just in passing, for I've got plans for him and his background in the next few upcoming chapters. And just so you know, those two songs by Nickelback, I _may_ have borrowed a line or two and plugged them into my story. It's fairly obvious when you see it if you've heard either song. On with the story!

**Music Suggestions**: 'I'd come for you' and 'Never be alone' by Nickelback.

**Disclaimer**: Short and simple: Dark Angel is not mine.

Orange

The color orange was recognized in Terminal City as a symbol for lost children. For so long, it seemed as if parents and parental-like guardians were being killed off daily, leaving young X-generations behind with no one to turn to.

There was no telling how many had been taken away or unable to find TC and abandoned; defenseless in a world that was no closer to giving up its hatred and discrimination than it had in the mid-20th century. Some children wanted to run away. Run away from their problems, not knowing any better as well as unknowing of the pain and influx of new problems they created in the ones they left behind.

At the time she'd first considered it, Max honestly hadn't known what to do. What could they do, how could they determine in an inconspicuous way, which children even wanted to be found if they were alone in the world? She remembered something that people used to do in the late 20th, early 21st century before the crash. They would designate colors to certain groups and affiliations. Pink for breast cancer. Green camo for the army. And so forth. If it had enough support, it seemed to be given a color to represent it. For people to be aware. And to remember.

That had given her the idea. From what she could recall, she couldn't remember seeing orange anywhere. She knew it had something to do with road construction in the past, but since the economy collapsed, there was no need to build or rebuild highways. So the color went into disuse. Until she came along and made it theirs. For abandoned Manticore children. If a child was seen wearing orange or it was painted on a door, the child – or children – were assumed to be orphaned and taken in by someone who would care for them.

The decree caught on quickly. It was practically forbidden to wear the color in any other sense short of Halloween. Personally, she'd never much worn or liked the color, anyway. However, she hadn't realized how saddening the color would become.

Especially on the day they found Sebastian...

"_Daddy, why is Bastian sitting on the curb like that?" Pandora asked innocently, balanced on Alec's hip in a tight embrace. She pointed in the direction he and Max weren't looking in, having been in the midst of a heated discussion on their foremost topic of commonality: their daughter._

_Shortly after the incident at Jam Pony involving the birth of Gem's daughter, Eve, Cece had confessed to Max that she was pregnant. With Biggs' child. Having had no more injuries or fatalities after Alec had been shot, once they made it to Terminal City, Cece had no idea what to do or where to go. After finding out about Biggs' gruesome and cruel death, Cece having not yet discovered she was pregnant, had expected her demise to not be far behind. Jam Pony happened a few weeks later. During the siege, she had finally put all the pieces together._

_Needless to say, she had made damned sure that she would survive. Because it hadn't been just about her any longer. That baby was going to survive. Come hell or high water. Or high-end Familiars, as the case turned out to be._

_Eight months and three days later, she had a precious little baby boy to nurture and raise. Just about the most adorable little baby you ever would see. Coal black hair and already the near-identical features of his father, the only feature he carried of his mother was her eyes: the clearest blue eyes that could penetrate the most hardened female and turn her to putty in his hands. Needless to say, the boy was going to break more that a few hearts when he grew up._

_That was almost six years ago. And it'd been just her and Sebastian, along with a few close friends, against the world._

"_Like what, sweet?" Max asked, returning to the present and looking in the direction her daughter was pointing. Her expression morphed into a mixture of sadness and confusion when she spotted him._

_Sebastian was wearing an orange pullover hoodie and matching stocking hat, the hair that usually hung loosely to his shoulders leaving his face exposed as tears leaked silently down his otherwise expressionless face._

"_Oh my God, Alec." Max said furtively, gripping his free arm in a death grip as she dragged him across the street to where Sebastian sat forlornly. _

"_Sebastian! Oh my God, Sebastian!" Max cried out urgently, kneeling down beside him and pulling the hat off his head. "What happened?"_

_At Max's concerned tone, Sebastian's face crumbled. Springing up into her outstretched arms, he started sobbing into her shoulder. Alec set Pandora down on her own two feet to kneel down beside Max, a frown marring his features. It could only mean one thing._

_Cece wasn't coming back and Sebastian was all alone._

"_M-mom sent the emergency page code. She's dead and I don't know where she is." Sebastian said, stuttering as he tried to stave off the crying._

_Pandora stepped forward, wrapping her tiny arms around his back, and leaned against him as she started to cry as well._

"_My mommy and daddy will find your mommy. If she's still out there, they'll find her and bring her back. Because mommies and daddies never truly disappear." Pandora said fiercely. Alec sent Max a pained expression as his daughter attempted to comfort her best friend. The chances of finding Cece alive were slim, if completely nonexistent. In today's harsh world, they'd be lucky to find out what had even happened to her in the first place._

"_C'mon. Let's go home." Alec said, pulling everybody back up on their feet. Refusing to let go of his hand, Pandora walked alongside Sebastian with her hand tightly encasing his. Alec and Max stood on either side of the two children, each holding a hand as they turned in the opposite direction back towards their apartment. The air of sadness clung to them the whole way._

_They were never able to find Cece. Not even her body._

oooouoooono*ooooaooowo*

A carved out pumpkin appeared in Max's line of vision when she looked up from the paperwork she was consumed in, starting when a voice floated up from behind it.

"Marry me, Max."

"Jeez, Alec! What the hell?" Max chastised, holding a hand towards her chest. Then her face morphed into confusion. "What is with the pumpkin?"

"I want you to marry me, Max." Alec answered eagerly, honestly. "It's been too long already, just over five years and three babies later, and we already live together and everything. What better time to do so than Ol' Hallows Eve?"

"Seriously?" Max asked, amusement evident in her tone.

"Yes, Max. I've been thinking it all out for awhile now." Alec continued excitedly, placing the pumpkin on the table in front of her as he started to pace. "It could double as a costume party and we can dress as a bride and groom. Hell, we can even be undead if you're up for it. We can even hold it at night. But, men know by now how seriously women can take their wedding day, so we could do it Halloween day if you'd like. Come on, Max. It'll be so much fun. Admit it." Alec finished authoritatively, placing both hands on either side of the pumpkin and staring at Max resolutely.

"Alright," Max said begrudgingly, "It does sound kind of cool. And it would save money condensing the two parties, as it were, into one. And I have no problem with it being at night. It's kind of fitting, actually. Being atypical to the norm is kind of what we do." Max then stood up and made her way around the desk, stepping into his open embrace and locking her arms around his neck. Looking up into his gaze impishly, she continued. "You know what? Let's do it.

"But I want a big shiny diamond on my finger before we go anywhere." Max finished teasingly, holding up her left hand and pointing to it.

"I just knew you had a secret thing for diamonds." Alec teased in return, pulling a flat jewelry box from his back pocket and kneeling down in front of her. "That's why I came prepared."

ooooowoooo*oooosooooco*

"Mommy, why can't _I_ dress up like a zombie corpse bride?" Pandora asked in a whiny tone, frowning at the frilly pastel fairy costume Max had just finished dressing the just-turned five year old in.

"Pandora, sweet. This is the costume you picked out, remember?" Max chided, attaching the gauzy wings to her daughter in front of the mirror.

"But that's before I saw your costume, Mommy. It's so much more...zombie-ish. Do I still have to wear this? I look too much like a girly in this costume." Pandora replied plaintively. "Sebastian's going as a pirate and so is Mason." Pandora continued, Mason being Logan and Asha's two year old. "I want to be a pirate. Can I be a pirate instead?"

"No, Pandora." Max refused with a chuckle. "I need my little flower girl to be all light and full of cuteness. You are my antithesis. How I looked before my...undeadness. Can you do that for me?" Max asked seriously, holding back the smile as she knelt down in front of her daughter's pouting face.

"Alright. I guess." Pandora grumbled, looking down and shuffling her feet, pulling at a loose thread on her dress. She then looked back up at Max with a resolute expression, much too serious for a girl her age. "But no more of this girly-girl business henceforth. I've got two boys for friends and a rep to protect." Pandora finished seriously, a firm nod completing the statement.

Max laughed out loud at her daughter's serious declaration. If she only knew. "Come here, sweet. I still need to put your fairy dust on."

ooooaooouo*oooomooooao*

"Who'd have thought we'd end up here today? Together at the altar?" Alec whispered to Max, leaning into her slightly as Cindy, now a certified minister just for the occasion, began the opening words for the ceremony. "Hard to believe, isn't it?"

"You're telling me." Max whispered back, a slight smile tugging at her lips. Pure happiness radiating throughout her entire being. "Who'd have thought? The playboy smart-aleck and the frigid ice queen leader of the transgenics. It certainly wasn't a match made in heaven, that's for sure."

"That's what Manticore was for." Alec continued in a hushed tone, half-teasing, half-serious. "They made both you and me and brought us together. Better than fate."

"Would you two please focus? I can't get you two hitched if you're not paying attention." OC said in a chastising tone, shaking her head as she smiled. The large crowd that had gathered for the union all chuckled lightly.

"Can't have that, now can we?" Alec said with a straight face. Max snorted in response.

"Anyway...as I was saying," OC continued seriously, stepping back slightly. "It's time for your vows."

"Ooh, me first." Alec said eagerly before Max could even consider responding first. OC rolled her eyes and gestured for him to go first.

Turning to Max, he turned her to face him as well, taking both of her hands in his. "First off, I have no idea what I'm supposed to say or if I'm even doing this right. But OC advised me to just speak straight from the heart, so that's what I'm gonna do." Alec said, nodding in OC's direction, pausing to take a deep breath to calm his nerves. "For the longest time, I was blindfolded, only seeing what could benefit me. I didn't know what else to do. I couldn't let anyone else in. But I always saw you, always listened. Since the day I first met you, you held something over me. I could never figure it out. You told me to stay, to fight when I wanted to run. You told me to be honest and straight-laced when I wanted to lie and steal. And I did what you told me. Because I felt I needed to make it up to you.

"And then my mind and heart started closing. I was losing myself to my past. No one else could have brought me back from that. _You_ did. Because you told me to. Later on, in one moment, I almost destroyed everything. Thought I almost destroyed everything because I wasn't strong enough. As it turns out, it was the best thing that could have happened to both of us." Alec paused again and looked down fondly at Pandora standing beside Max, blowing her hair out of her face and twisting the wings on her back as if they annoyed her. He brought his gaze back up to Max, whose eyes were starting to glisten as if she were about to cry. "Now I know what it means to let someone in. And all I need from life is just one more moment with you. I'll do anything to make sure every moment I still have life in me, you will as well. No matter what gets in my way. I'll always come for you. But only if you tell me to." Alec finished, wiping away the stray tear that had escaped from Max's eye with the pad of his thumb, ducking his head down slightly almost self-consciously.

The entire crowd sat speechless. More than a few gaped with open mouthed expressions. Almost every woman in the room, transgenic, nomaly, and ordinary alike was tearing up and dabbing at her eyes with tissues.

"Oh my God." OC whispered in a hushed tone, staring in amazement at Alec. Nods and words of agreement floated up to the front of the room from everyone else.

"Max?" Alec said hesitantly, his head tilting to one side as he brushed his hand along her cheek. Max blinked slowly a few times as if coming out of a trance.

"Wow." Max breathed out, drawing in a deep breath afterwards. "There is no way I can compete with that." Max continued lightly to break the seriousness settling on the room. Alec smirked slightly in response.

"OC, help her out please." Alec directed at OC.

"Get the lead out, boo. We ain't got all night here." OC ordered, giving Max an impatient glare. Max stared at her impudently for a moment before turning back to Alec.

"Ask me five minutes after I met you whether or not I'd want to marry you someday. And I'd have kicked your crazy ass to the curb." Max began, giving Alec a droll stare. "I couldn't stand you. You mocked everything I believed in. You slept around. You stole whatever you wanted, regardless of who it was from. You lied and cheated constantly. And you just _wouldn't go away._" Max continued heatedly, the disbelief and impatience from so long ago lacing her words. Alec couldn't stop smirking at her as she spoke.

"But then things started to change. _You_ started to change. And I started seeing just who you were. Believing in you. You were always there when I needed an extra pair of hands. A shoulder to lean on when my emotional roller coaster put me through a loop. We both started opening up. Trusting each other. Then one day you went away, and it felt like my soul was inside out. I didn't understand how my feelings could have changed so dramatically. But they did. And I didn't know what to do about them. So I lied. To you and everyone. I couldn't lose you, by then you meant too much. Slowly but surely, I started closing up, started building the walls up around my heart and my mind. And you let me. Later on, when I asked you why, you said it was 'because you told me to'. It was then that I knew that I was in love with you. Fell for sure right then. It meant that you could see what I was doing. But you knew it was something I wanted to figure out on my own. I should have realized then your love for me. The strength of it. How pure and unrelenting it truly was. But I couldn't. Because I wasn't ready to.

"However, something wonderful happened that neither of us could have predicted. Someone who was determined to set her parents straight." At this, Max paused to look down at Pandora, patting the top of her head to draw her attention from sticking her tongue out at Sebastian, who was relentlessly teasing her about her dress. Pandora smiled up at her mother innocently as Max's finger trailed down her daughter's cherub-like face. Max looked back at Alec, whose face was now completely serious, staring at her intently. "Now I don't know what I'd do without either one of you. You're my world. Time keeps moving by so fast, and now I regret not spending all of it with you. So for as long as I can, I'm holding on with both hands from this moment on. Now that I've got you, Pandora, Chase, and Cameron, I've got everything I'll ever need. Just in case you didn't know." Max finished, scrunching up her nose slightly with a smile as she looked over at Logan and Asha, who were each holding what looked like giant M&Ms. Max and Alec's newest eight-month old additions to their expanding family.

Surprised by Max's rather long-winded speech as well, OC stared on at her closest friend. They had both grown so much. Alec and Max had both come a long way to end up where they were today. And she doubted they'd have it any other way.

"I'm so proud of you both." OC announced, gesturing for Sebastian to come forward. The Jack Sparrow impersonator came forward with the rings, holding them up with a somber expression for OC to take. Pandora smiled at him understandingly as OC passed the rings to Max and Alec.

After the rings were in place, they both looked to OC expectantly.

"Yes, I now pronounce you two officially married. Go on and kiss the bride already." OC said impatiently, stepping away from them with a smile. "Lord knows it took you two long enough."

The world faded around them as Alec's hands cupped Max's face, her hands resting on top of his as they met in the middle with a tender kiss.

oooooooroo*ooooooxooo*ooovooaooe*

Is anyone crying yet? It's alright. It's a happy cry. Anyway, I hope everyone enjoyed it. The vows came out a lot easier than I thought. I hadn't even planned on writing an actual wedding scene. I can only hope it came off as well I think it did. Yes, I know I got a _little _sappy. What can I say? I've never actually been to a wedding and I let my imagination get away from me. Subject change. Try and guess where I got the names Chase and Cameron! Oh come on, it isn't hard. (I've been borrowing _way_ too much lately). Anyway. I'm now going to try and shift my focus onto Pandora and her life. I really like how this story is playing out in my mind. So with that...until next time...


	4. Yellow

**Author's Note**: I'm sort of a fan of the Twilight saga, I'll admit it. So it means you might see a few references throughout my story. I guess it depends on whether or not you're into Twilight. Anyway, in other news, I'm afraid that my new creations aren't growing up fast enough for them to end up where I want them to be in the next chapter, so I'm warning you now that I'm going to be skipping over, like, ten years between this chapter and the next (which is green). Most of the scenes I've got going on in my head take place when they're all teenagers and, well, I don't have an infinite number of colors to work with. Let me know if that doesn't settle well with you and I'll try and find some way to fix it.

**Music Suggestions**: 'Consider this' by Anna Nalick, 'Come back around' by Feeder, 'Annie' by Safetysuit, 'Shallow bay' by Breaking Benjamin.

**Disclaimer**: If this were a permit, it'd long be expired. Can't afford to keep up with it. I don't own Dark Angel.

Yellow

Max honestly couldn't believe what she was seeing. Or hearing, for that matter.

"Mom, I want to go to school with Mason." Pandora stated seriously, pushing her food aside and folding her hands neatly on the kitchen table. Chase and Cameron sat to either side of her in booster seats trying to throw their food at each other, oblivious to the change in mood. Sebastian's head jerked up, his fascination with pushing his food around his plate forgotten.

Max turned slightly in her seat to look at Alec, who shrugged unknowingly. This was something coming from left field, something she never expected. They had their own trans-human school system set up and running rather efficiently. It was more conductive and hard-wired to subjects a transgenic with enhanced abilities should be learning. Not to mention, no child should have to put up with the alienation and suffering they would no doubt receive should their identity be discovered in an ordinary school. And thankfully, no need for ugly yellow school buses from the late 20th century the rest of the country claimed to need.

It wasn't completely unheard of, transgenics attending public school with the ordinaries. In fact, Logan was one of the primary ring-leaders when it came to enrolling their transgenic children under false pretenses as had been the case before their trans-human school had been set up.

Pandora, Mason, and Sebastian were the closest knit group of friends ever known to grace transgenic central, so Max should have expected this. But Pandora and Sebastian had been attending, aptly named, Transgenic Central for almost a year and two years respectively with no complaints.

So, what the hell? No, not even. After a thought, she didn't even need an explanation. The answer was still going to be the same.

"No." Max said shortly, not even looking to Alec for confirmation.

Alec merely shrugged his shoulders uselessly and continued eating. He honestly didn't see the problem where Pandora went to school, as long as she went. And she had Sebastian to stand guard at her back. He knew the boy wouldn't be adverse to the suggestion. He could already see that Sebastian was like him when it came to Max. He could only hope it didn't annoy his daughter nearly as much as it had Max.

"But you didn't even ask me why...?" Pandora began to argue weakly before Max interrupted succinctly.

"No."

And that quite obviously was the end of the discussion. Pandora's eyes narrowed and an eyebrow twitched angrily as she shoved back her chair almost calmly. The threat was clear in her eyes as she stepped away from the chair and pushed it back under the table.

This wasn't over.

oooouooooso*oooonooooo*

Chase and Cameron were sitting at opposite ends of a rusted out and abandoned yellow rowboat when Pandora happened upon them a few days later. Her mother had refused to let her go to school with Mason. What could be so bad about it? It was barely into the Fall semester, it wouldn't be hard to make up at all. From what Mason had told her, it sounded just like the school she went to, granting the whole secrecy bit. But that didn't really bother her all that much. Also, the company would be better because while hanging around with Sebastian and the rest of her kind was alright, she felt closer to Mason–kind of like he understood her better. Which, in all honesty, made no sense considering he wasn't even transgenic.

But he was always open with her. Whenever something confused him, irritated him, or just plain disturbed him she was the first to know about it. She liked being someone's confidant. Being needed. Sebastian didn't necessarily kept secrets from her, but she always felt as if he were on guard with her. She didn't try and take it real personal–he did it with everyone. It just hurt sometimes that he didn't trust her like Mason did.

Besides, she was sure Sebastian would tag along anyway.

Case in point, she _was_ going to go to school with Mason. She just needed to figure out how...she needed leverage.

And it was her brothers' conversation that had caught her attention as she ambled along with her thoughts. It almost reminded her of something. She just couldn't put her finger on it.

"...I love pickles." Cameron finished, speaking around a mouthful of the pickle he'd just bitten into.

"I'll give you my pickle for a nickel." Chase stated seriously, holding the pickle out slightly for Cameron to inspect.

Cameron sat forward slightly, examining the pickle. Nodding firmly in approval, he dug around in his pocket for the change. He then held out two pennies for his brother.

"How about two cents?" Cameron negotiated, eyebrows raised slightly.

"Okay." Chase said brightly after a moment's consideration, handing the pickle over two his brother. Cameron handed over the change and took the pickle, holding one in each hand and started waving them back and forth victoriously.

Pandora decided to interrupt before he burst into song or some other nonsense.

"Hey there you two. What're you two troublemakers up to today?" Pandora taunted lightly, leaning over the middle of the boat and ruffling their hair with her hands. They both squealed happily at her nickname for them, even if she knew full well they were hardly ever up to much of _anything,_ much less trouble.

They took after their mother like that, not any "fun" at all. Of course they _were_ only three. Barely. It was still early. And, they could use a little of her...slightly less than angelic attitude when it came to fun. Such impressionable minds they had. Her mother would be furious.

If her mother wanted any manageable children left at all, she should just let Pandora have this one simple request. The plan had already formed in her mind. It had rained the day before and the park down the street was nothing but mud...

Her mouth twisted into a mischievous smirk that would have reminded anyone of Alec. There was no doubting the genetic background for this particular child.

Pandora couldn't wait to "corrupt" the twins.

"Nothing." Chase drew out slowly, looking at the two pennies in his hand as Cameron returned to eating his first pickle, oblivious to his sister's deviant plan. "Would you like to play with us?"

Cameron's eyes snapped up to hers excitedly, practically bouncing in his seat like an eager puppy.

"Please, Pandora?" Cameron begged in agreement, holding both pickles out to her. "You can have both my pickles if you do."

"I'll pass Cam, thanks." Pandora replied, her nose crinkling up slightly. No one understood her brother's almost obsessive like of the food. He was the only one in the family that did. "But I will play for awhile. In fact, I've got the greatest idea of what we could do..."

oooooxooozo*oooonooomo

Max honestly couldn't take this kind of pressure. And here she'd thought that she could deal with just about anything. She loved Alec, she really did, but she was about ready to kill him for all the influence and just plain genetic coding he'd given his daughter. His unruly, disobedient at practically every turn, mischievous yet charming daughter.

"Oh, Pandora." Max said in a exasperated voice, one hand rising to her forehead in an attempt to hide the sight before her. She should have known something was up. Pandora had been acting oddly for the past day or so, almost well-behaved. Alec had even been able to talk her into the most adorable yellow daisy sun dress to wear to the annual TC barbecue they held in the heart of TC as a fairwell to the summer weather.

This is what she got for hoping Pandora had given up on the "public school" idea. Not to mention getting her into the dress earlier than when they planned to leave.

Pandora stood before Max innocently, an eyebrow raised slightly...and covered head to toe in mud. It even dripped from the dress tauntingly.

Max drew a deep breath into her lungs as she looked skyward for a moment. Her gaze drifted back down to Pandora sternly.

"Pandora, how many times have I told you? I don't care if you want to roll around in the mud and muck, only that you change first." Max asked shortly. "And stop being such a bad influence on your brothers. I have enough trouble with you and your father."

Pandora merely smiled softly in response as if something amused her. Max was immediately wary.

Seconds later, Chase and Cameron ran around the corner from the same direction as Pandora had moments before. Shrieking playfully, they both ran past Pandora and Max and into the apartment hallway trying to sling mud at each other. If it were possible, they looked even worse off than Pandora. Max closed her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose. As she did with Alec, she was about to give in. Even if she knew that it was the wrong decision.

"Alright, sweet. You'll start Monday."

oooouooono*oooosooomoo*

"Leave her alone." Mason said lowly, moving to stand in front of a tearful Pandora. It didn't matter who she was or how she was born, you didn't insult a girl. It shouldn't matter what she may or may not have done. His mother had taught him that from an early age.

Knowing Pandora practically from birth, Mason was the son of Logan and Asha. Having never moved from the building that straddled Terminal City, Asha had decided to move in with Logan soon after Pandora was born. After settling down and abandoning the resistance fighter life, it was discovered that Asha was actually a natural when it came to being a mother and full-time supporter of Eyes Only. They got married and had Mason barely a year later.

Being the baby of the group, he played alongside Pandora and Sebastian on a daily basis. More often than not, Sebastian and Pandora were forced to come and see him. Both his father's scientist contacts as well as the transgens' specialists were trying to find a way to build up immunities in the ordinaries so no one would have to worry about getting sick and dying. It was still a work in progress. And lately, he'd been seeing less of Sebastian. He was probably about as close to being what Sebastian would call a friend, but one could tell that Sebastian wasn't exactly enthusiastic about forming any more close ties after he lost his mother. But then again, Mason didn't care nearly as much about that as long as he still had Pandora around.

She was like a whirlwind in a world of stillness. Life was far from boring while living next door to the next step in the evolutionary chain, but Pandora was unlike any other. He could never get enough of her. Her presence alone could light up a room and whenever she moved, most times she was dragging him along right behind. He didn't know how his life would be without her endless energy. It was like he couldn't stop talking whenever she was near him. For the most part, he hardly talked at all. Couldn't really say he liked to do so all that much. Most of the people he knew, excluding his transgenic friends and family, were kind of rude and obnoxious anyway. But he loved speaking with Pandora. He knew that she wouldn't utter a word of it to anyone else if he asked her not to. And it brought them even closer as friends.

Even if she weren't his best friend, he wouldn't have walked away from this situation. He wasn't about to stand aside and do nothing. Didn't they have any respect at all? Sure the world they lived in wasn't exactly the best, but didn't that mean one should try and help another out when they were down? Instead they were still bashing and trash-talking what they didn't understand. Here they were, insulting her as if Pandora were some lesser being without any feelings, as if she wasn't feeling unsure and a little shy about her new surroundings. She'd only just started attending the week before.

Sadly, he realized too late the repercussions of what could happen should her true identity be discovered.

He understood trying to fit in with your peers, but one of the bullies in the group had hit a new low. Mason glared at Pogue, the tallest and most threatening boy in the quartet before him. The transgenic boy smiled back at him smugly. Mason couldn't believe the nerve the boy had, selling out one of his own. And only because she happened to be the slightest bit more well off and was close friends with Sebastian. Mason's lip curled slightly as he remembered all the veiled insults Pogue had directed at Pandora over the years. It figured he'd take the chance to up the ante once she was off of the home turf. Mason wasn't sure exactly what had been said this time to affect Pandora as it had, but it wasn't going to continue. Regardless of the odds.

"Who are you to stand up for that non-human?" Pogue mocked deliberately, knowing Mason and Pandora were friends as well. "It's not like it matters any. Go. Now. Before we have to hurt you."

"Go ahead and try." Mason replied in a menacing tone, falling into a semi-defensive pose. He may only be six years old, but growing up alongside a city chock-full of transgenics that could kick butt without breaking a sweat was bound to teach him a thing or two about self-defense.

Pogue almost rubbed his hands together gleefully at Mason's response. His eyes gleamed manically and a twisted smile curved his lips. "Well, we warned you."

The group began to advance forward towards Mason and Pandora when a voice sounded out from behind them. Mason even smiled slightly at the person behind the unsuspecting group before covering it up with a mask of indifference.

"I'm sorry to interrupt," Sebastian quipped conversationally as he approached. "But are you gonna fight? 'Cause if you are, I want in on it as well. Been wanting a crack at him for years."

None of the ordinary bullies realized the 'him' was referring to Pogue rather than Mason. Although Mason rolled his eyes at Sebastian's play on words.

"Yeah, sure." one of the ordinary bullies replied, his tone light as he assumed their numbers to be increasing. Pogue, however, knew differently and his eyes widened slightly in recognition. He almost backed out of the fight because he knew where this was going. He took a chance though because his group outnumbered theirs, after all. However, how had he not known Sebastian was attending here as well? He should have known, even if he didn't shadow Pandora as he usually did.

And from the look on Sebastian's face as he passed by, there was now a 50/50 shot he was gonna get his ass handed to him despite the odds.

"Oh and by the way," Sebastian continued as he came to the forefront of the group, facing them with a dark threat glimmering in his eyes. "No one threatens my girl."

As it turns out, belittling a girl with two friends as loyal and well-practiced in self-defense as Sebastian and Mason wasn't always the best idea in the world. And that particular fact spread real fast.

oooonoooco*ooooxooomo*ooooozoooo

Wow, did Pandora really sound as evil as I thought she did at the beginning? (And there was a reference to The Little Rascals, in case anyone was wondering.) That really wasn't my intention. How was Mason? That was part of what took so long. I just could not get him into the chapter and adequately described. Guess I did a little _too_ well with Sebastian. And I also realize that this chapter is all pretty much one big scene and doesn't move forward in time much, hence another reason for the time jump in the next chapter. Also, as I may have mentioned before, I have a big scene for green written, a gigantic blue chapter (which is another of those one big scene chapters), indigo sketched out for the most part, and a vague concept of violet. But you get what I'm saying, right? Anyway, should probably stop talking now and just let you all get on with life. Until next time...


	5. Lime

Author's Notes:As I warned you in the last chapter, you're going to be seeing a few references to the Twilight series. This chapter is an experiment of sorts in that I'm inserting an in-between color to introduce another original character that was loosely inspired by, who else, the Bella from Twilight. That's all I complained about, not having enough colors to work with. And then it hit me. I was like "Um...duh. Of course there are more than seven colors out there." So you all will be seeing lots of in-between colors at varying points. Back to my other train of thought (I know, it's almost impossible to keep up with sometimes), I mean loosely in that I already had her character sketched out, I just named her after Bella. Then I watched Practical Magic and heard "Coconut" by Harry Nilsson...the rest is history. Well, after you read this chapter it will be. Whatever. I confuse myself sometimes. All I know is that a whole chapter evolved simply from that song. Just think of a auburn-haired Luna from Harry Potter (personality wise) dressed like Zo from Ten Inch Hero (I simply love that movie. Jensen Ackles was great. Totally worth it, if you can actually find it that is.) for her debut. Oh and by the way, I plan to up the rating to 'M' for green and afterwards. Just a heads up.

Music Suggestions:'One love/People get ready' by Bob Marley, 'Coconut' by Harry Nilsson, 'Crazy' by Alanis Morissette.

Disclaimer:Still don't own Dark Angel. That simple.

Lime

Three years had passed since the incident on the playground with Pogue and the bullies. No one bothered the transgenics and the transgenics made nice with their ordinary classmates. They even played together on occasion. However, Sebastian had a natural calling when it came to playing pranks and as long as one had his permission, one could prank on any and everyone on school grounds. He'd forgotten one simple rule: not Pandora. He'd played on the wrong girl and now he was paying for it.

"Pandora, come on!" Sebastian complained, trying and failing again to lunge across the lunchroom table for a piece of the fruit. "How often do we get fruit around here? And you know that green apples are my favorite. Just one slice. Please, Pandora?"

"Uh uh." Pandora uttered firmly, pulling another slice from her plate and biting a chunk of it off. "You embarrassed me in front of all those boys yesterday. And you know how I don't take to practical jokes lightly."

"It was Mason's idea." Sebastian threw out desperately and unexpectedly.

Pandora frowned disbelievingly. "Yeah, like I believe that." Pandora said, looking over at Mason who looked slightly panicked and was shaking his head furiously. "Mason wouldn't hurt a fly. Besides, he knows better, which is why I'll give _him_ a piece _if_ I decide to share."

"Don't even think about involving me in this." Mason said quickly, his hands out. "I don't even like fruit."

oooomooooouoo*ooooovoooxo*

Upset with and trying to avoid Sebastian, Pandora took an alternative route home from school. As she walked down the unfamiliar street, begrudging Sebastian in three different languages, Pandora's grumblings tapered off as she heard music filtering through an open door. Sneaking along stealthily, Pandora edged closer to the sound coming from what looked to once be a new age/alternative therapy shop.

"There is something I can do for you." a female voice drifted from within the shop as Pandora stood on the threshold in indecision.

Pandora shook her head of the cobwebs as she realized the voice was speaking to her. She opened the French patio style door, with numerous panes broken, cracked and all-around filthy, and stepped inside. As the door clicked shut behind her, Pandora looked around the dank and musty store that surrounded her. Crystals, books, candles, and a few other things she chose to not identify cluttered the shelves she passed as she walked deeper into the store. Looking around in amazement, she finally discovered the source of the voice in a rear corner of the small store next to a curving, wrought iron staircase. The girl was also surrounded in what was once very expensive merchandise for those seeking alternative medicines or a higher level of existence. Now it was just a not so expensive pile of, well, crap.

"Um...hello." Pandora began unsteadily, still unsure of the person before her. "What's with the music?"

"Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't realize it was so loud." the girl apologized, turning to stand with an accompanying apologetic expression. "Just a leftover habit of where I hail from. Wasn't another person around for miles. And whether or not they had overly sensitive hearing hardly mattered."

"Oh no, that's fine. I wasn't complaining or anything." Pandora said placatingly, holding her hands out to stop the girl from turning it down. "I was just wondering what it is. I've never heard anything like it before. Granted I've only been around for less than a decade, but it's very...unusual." Pandora explained, at a loss to describe the eclectic sounding music pulsing through the speakers.

"Right." the girl began with a knowing smile and a little eyeroll, she then knelt down and threw a few more items into a trash bin to finish off that particular aisle. Standing back up, she brushed her hands off on her skirt and gestured Pandora towards the counter to her left.

"My mom is real big on the oldies. I was more or less raised with music by Harry Nilsson, Martin Briley, and such. Didn't help matters much that I was born and raised in Jamaica after Maui didn't work out for my mom and dad. Where artists like Jimi Hendrix, Bob Marley and peace, love, and harmony are still principle markers of the island. It's too bad we're unable to fall under the influence of drugs and alcohol, 'cause the maryjane is totally legal there. It's like, the only place on earth that doesn't complain 24/7 about how much life sucks. I'm still not entirely sure why my mother decided to move us here." the girl explained expressively, her hands moving around in tandem to her explanation.

Pandora stared on in bemusement at the girl's almost incomprehensible ramblings.

"Just _who_ are you, anyway?" Pandora asked in a confused tone of the girl standing before her wearing a hippie style tie-dyed skirt and lime colored tank top, her copper colored hair twisted into numerous tiny braids.

"The name's Bella, my sweet." the girl, Bella, answered in a airy tone, a faraway glimmer drifting over her features.

ooooaooooso*ooooxooocoo

_'That was perhaps the most bizarre girl I have ever met.'_ Pandora thought to herself as she opened the front door to the apartment complex she lived in with her parents.

Once she got started, Bella could not stop talking. Bella detailed everything about herself: everything under the sun from her parents' backgrounds to her life as a Jamaican.

And that was _before_ Pandora had left that first night.

It hadn't even mattered that Pandora had offered to return the next morning, a Saturday morning no less, to help clean up the shop that she and her mom were moving into, and made a quick exit. Bella could not be deterred from talking in a cheerfully bright tone when Pandora returned the next day and helped the girl sweep up, carrying trash bag after trash bag of garbage to the curb outside the front of the store. But somehow, even though Pandora wasn't really much for talking, Bella was the type of person that one couldn't help but love. Her odd and slightly off-kilter attitude towards life and dreamy, almost airy lilt to her voice that tended to trail off when, what Pandora had coined "a happy thought" occurred and she went silent for awhile, never got dull.

Bella was an interesting character to say the least.

"How was your day, sweet?" Max called out from the kitchen when she heard the door open and close. "Was Bella more subdued today?"

"How does she know that you call me sweet all the time?" Pandora mused as she ambled into the kitchen and hopped up on the counter next to where her mother was doing the dishes in the sink.

"Left field there, sweetie." Max said in a slight chastising tone, a smile tugging at her lips.

"She calls me 'sweet' too. I never told her that's your pet name for me as well." Pandora continued to muse with a frown.

"It might help if you tell me more about this Bella. Do you know anything about her? Her parents, transgenics obviously." Max said, attempting to get more of an explanation. Her daughter hadn't said much the night before, just retreated into her bedroom after informing everyone why she was over an hour late and glaring daggers at Sebastian.

"Just her mom. Her dad's an ordinary and he's still living in Jamaica. Some kind of sleeping disorder that he's being treated for. Couldn't live here anyway, being an ordinary and hiding from the mob and all. She said that you know her mom but you probably don't remember her. Said that that is part of what her mom does, makin' people forget her and implanting suggestions into other people's minds. I don't really believe the last part, though. Do we really have transgenics that can play games with your mind?" Pandora finished with a question.

Max's eyes widened in recognition. It couldn't be.

"Mia's back?" Max asked in a bewildered tone.

"How did you know her name?" Pandora asked, slightly confused. "Does that mean you remember her?"

"Of course I do, she didn't wipe us that last time." Max said dismissively with a wave of her hand. "Did you meet her? How is she? She didn't try anything on you, did she?"

"No, I didn't." Pandora answered, raising an eyebrow at the last question. "She wasn't there yesterday or today. She had to settle a few things back home in Jamaica. She sent Bella ahead of her to get a chance to settle in. But Bella said that her mom wanted to meet with you and dad as soon as she gets in."

"I wonder if she knows..." Max trailed off, more to herself than her daughter. The last time Mia had been around, Mia had thought that she and Logan were perfect for each other. Did Mia believe that Pandora was the result of her and Logan? Did she even know about Pandora and Alec?

"Knows what, Mom?" Pandora asked curiously, head tilting curiously as well.

"Oh nothing, sweet. Can't wait to see her." Max said, evading the question as she returned to the task before her.

oooomoooxo*oooonooomoo*

"If I didn't know any better, I'd say you've gotten shorter, Max." Mia's cheerful voice greeted Pandora and Bella a few days later as they were putting the finishing touches on the shop level of the building Bella and Mia would be living in.

Pandora turned around in surprise, staring at the woman dressed in black sweater-like top and lime green capris as Bella stood and ran to her mother with a bright smile.

"Momma!" Bella yelled excitedly as she jumped up into her mom's open embrace. Not having yet directly looked at Pandora, Mia looked a bit surprised when her daughter continued speaking. "That's not Max, Momma. It's Pandora...the girl I told you about over the phone yesterday?" Bella finished speaking with a question and a confused expression at her mom's blank stare.

"Ah...so you're Pandora?" Mia asked cheerfully, looking directly at Pandora intently with her head cocked to one side. Pandora frowned slightly. Is this what her mom meant about the mind games? She didn't feel any different.

"Uh...yeah." Pandora replied flatly as she mimicked Mia's head placement. "Does that hurt, tilting your head like that all the time? Bella said you do it a lot."

Mia frowned with a slight pout. "You mean you noticed? No one ever notices. Is something wrong with your head?" Mia asked bluntly, trying her mind coercion again.

"Bastian likes to convince me of such everyday, but I doubt it." Pandora replied in a wry tone, one corner of her mouth quirking up. "Got some messed up sleeping patterns, though. Kind of a complicated jumble of both my mom and dad. I'll sleep a normal 7 to 8 hours one week and then the next...I'm lucky if I can sleep through three. Kinda nice when you have a enormous test the next day but a big pain most of the time. I never know from one day to the next how long I'll stay asleep." Pandora finished with a shrug.

"Oh, goody." Mia said cheerfully, clapping her hands together. "Someone else that isn't affected by my telecorecion. It'll make Dougie's absence a little easier to bear. So, do you live nearby? What about your dad? Is he living outside the no-cross line? I heard the deal with ordinaries living here in TC is still a no-no."

Pandora looked at the woman as if she were crazy.

"Look I don't know how much you know about me, but me and my family all live together in here about three blocks away. Both my mom and dad are transgenics. So are my two younger twin brothers." Pandora explained.

"You mean that Logan isn't...I mean that Max and Logan aren't...?" Mia questioned, a hint of frustration accompanying the confusion. Apparently a lot had changed while she'd been out of the country, the world she'd left starting to unravel around her fingers. Max and Logan were no longer together? Then who did this child belong to? It was quite obvious that Max was her mother, but who was the father if not Logan?

"Wow." Pandora said, bemusement gracing her features. "Um...no. Not even close. He's married to Asha and they have a son, Mason. Friend, by the way." Pandora continued, pausing and tapping her opposite bicep with the her fist in salute.

"So who exactly is your father?" Mia asked, holding a hand to her forehead and looking as if she were about to collapse. Bella stood beside her mother watching the exchange between the two with a neutral expression.

"You probably know him." Pandora replied with a quirky smile. "His name's Alec."

"Oh my." Mia exclaimed, collapsing down in the chair Bella had dragged to her side when she noticed her mother's expression. Mia fanned herself for a few moments before continuing, her eyes downcast towards the floor with a perplexed expression.

"Well, I can honestly say that I never expected that."

ooooonoooo*ooooxooooo*ooovoooooo

So, how'd you all like my bringing Mia back? I thought she was such an interesting character when I first saw "Fuhgeddaboudit" and it's still one of my favorite episodes. Is it too confusing? Am I bringing in too many characters? I wasn't really planning on making Bella such a prominent character, but as I mentioned in passing in my first note, scenes with her in them will not stop sprouting up in my mind. So I figured I might as well get her background out of the way. Besides, it all kind of came together at the right time (for once). Not to mention, Pandora needs her own version of OC, a girl to talk out all her problems with. I mean, Sebastian and Mason can't be there for _all_ her girl problems. Oh, and my Bella doesn't sound too much like Twilight Bella, does she? Because that isn't what I want. At all. I know there isn't much to go by yet, but some original thoughts on the matter from you guys would be great. Minor subject change: that little scene at the beginning was more filler than anything. A reference of time, if you will, and a setup for Bella's introduction. Besides, I'd originally written that for orange, but it just didn't work out and I still wanted to use it somehow. Anyway...until next time...


	6. Green

**Author's note**: It would seem that whenever I write a scene, at the same time I'm thinking of another scene that would compliment that later on in the story. Sometimes it makes it kind of hard to get just _one_ of those ideas out clearly and coherently. The first scene of this chapter came about as I was writing the costume scene in "orange". The rest sort of trickled down from there. Oh, and the "unveiling scene" with Sebastian and Mason talking...I was totally thinking of Eurotrip. You know, the nude beach scene with Michelle Trachtenberg? Anyway...Also, there's a little scene inspired by the movie Ten Inch Hero. (I swear, I cannot leave that movie well enough alone! And I'm happy to hear you enjoyed the movie Chica De Los Ojos Cafe! Totally agree with you.) As for the last song on this chapter's playlist...I was in a weird mood. I was listening to the opening chords as I was thinking about Sebastian's thoughts and his reaction to the other boys' attention on the bikini clad Pandora. No one's leaving or dying. Just thought I'd make that clear.

**Music Suggestions**: '(Can't get my) head around you' by The Offspring, 'End of the summer' by Theory of a Deadman, 'Gone forever' by Three Days Grace.

**Disclaimer**: Should I even keep bothering with repeating myself? The answer is still a resounding "no".

Green

"Mom," Pandora began one summer morning, plopping down in the center of her parents' bed as Max finished dressing. "What does a girl do to get a guy to notice her?"

Max looked down, glad her back was turned to her fifteen-year-old daughter as she failed to hide the knowing smile.

"Most times, they've long since noticed. They just refuse to do anything about it." Max replied as she finished zipping up her tight green hoodie and turned around to face Pandora. "Makes us girls miserable in the process. I doubt they do it on purpose, though."

"That doesn't really help me, Mom." Pandora muttered forlornly, flipping over onto her stomach with her legs swinging in the air and her chin propped on a fist.

"You, Bella, and the boys still plan to go on that float trip the school put together this weekend, right?" Max asked as she pulled her hair up into a ponytail.

"Yeah. So?" Pandora replied in a bored tone.

"What do you plan on wearing?" Max asked conversationally, an idea forming in her mind...something that Alec the Father would probably throw a fit over. Well, it was a long time coming considering the bad karma he'd built up by terrorizing her in their early days together. Besides, she knew Pandora had her boys and Bella at her back. This one little, minuscule modification wouldn't hurt anything.

"That simple one-piece that Dad just barely approves of. I've already had this lecture with Dad and I'm not really prepared to have it again. I might just fall asleep this time." Pandora stated flatly, looking up at Max as she sat down next to Pandora on the bed.

Max smiled impishly at her daughter as she tugged a belligerent Pandora into a standing position.

"Come on, sweet. Go grab Bella. We're going shopping."

oooo*moooso*oooao*ooxoo*

"Hurry it up, Pandora!" Bella called out with a hint of impatience, her crossed leg starting tap restlessly. They'd already been to three stores and turned up with zip. She herself already had a bikini and had bought a new one at the first store they'd been to. It would seem that none of the suits Pandora had already tried on matched up to either Max's or Pandora's specifications. "We've still got two more stores to check out and we need to pack! Not to mention I'd like to buy a few other things for the trip while we're here. Like food...ooh! Chocolate...mint chocolate..." Bella finished her rant by trailing off to pull out a pad of paper with a list already started on it. She scribbled chocolate on the list again.

Pandora stepped through the curtain, her hair tumbling down over her downcast face and her arms curled around her bare stomach insecurely. She peeked up through her lashes hopefully and unwound her hands to hold out slightly at her sides with a little shrug.

Bella gasped and a bark of laughter escaped her lips when she looked up and saw Pandora. Max's eyes lit up and a soft smile graced her features.

"It's perfect, darling." Max said encouragingly, holding her hands out for Pandora.

"Those boys won't know what hit 'em." Bella agreed with a firm nod as she reached out to high-five Pandora.

oooo*oooao*oooozoo*ooosoo*

Pandora stood at the island in her kitchen next to Bella with an open and beat up green duffel bag inbetween them. Pandora chewed on her bottom lip as they both peered into the bag for inspection. Bella looked back to the list she held and started reading it off like a checklist.

"Alright," Bella began, "We've got towels, sunscreen, chocolate. Doritos, cool ranch _and_ nacho cheese." Bella intercepted as Pandora began to interject. Pandora nodded succinctly.

"Check to all the above so far." Pandora answered shortly.

"Peanut butter, bread, chocolate, extra clothes, cookies, chocolate, extra swimsuits, music, CD player with batteries, some cash, and chocolate. Does that sound like everything?" Bella asked after she finished reading the list, looking up at Pandora with a slight frown.

Pandora tilted her head to the side and looked up at the ceiling thoughtfully for a moment before answering.

"Maybe we should put another chocolate?" Pandora asked, peering back over into the bag. Bella nodded in agreement.

"Yeah you're right. Adding chocolate to the list." Bella concluded, turning and picking up another bag of chocolate Hershey bars off the counter.

ooooz*ooovo*oooonooo*ooomo

"Hey!" Bella exclaimed in a huffy tone, her hands on her hips as she and Pandora halted about 10 feet behind Mason and Sebastian. "Thanks for waiting!" she finished sarcastically.

"Holy crap." Mason directed at Sebastian quietly in an awestruck tone when they turned around to face the girls, "Did you have any idea at all she looked like that?"

Bella glanced at Pandora with a slight frown in a distracted manner, as if merely making sure everything was in its proper place before turning away and perusing the crowd to assuage who had already arrived for the float trip. Bella was wearing her new bikini, a green and brown tie-dye design, with a pair of cut-off shorts and wide rimmed sunglasses perched high on her head as she glared, in passing, at the boys.

The corner of Sebastian's mouth quirked up slightly before falling back down into a straight line.

"I had my suspicions." Sebastian replied lightly, his gaze never leaving the sight of Pandora as she slowly drew the oversized, long-sleeved green t-shirt over her head to reveal a matching itty-bitty green bikini bedecked with little white flowers.

It was going to be a long weekend.

ooooowoo*ooonooo*oooeooo*ooosoo

Sebastian stared on darkly at the campfire where Pandora was currently residing. That part wasn't the cause of his current sour mood, for Pandora sitting alone by herself was hardly ever a problem. She even had Mason sitting next to her on one of the large logs laid out for such purposes. And if he were the type to trust other people, Mason would be very high up on that list when it came to defending Pandora. It was, however, the twelve other boys from school that were paying her more attention than Sebastian was comfortable with.

In many ways, Pandora was perfectly capable of taking care of herself–especially considering the present company were all ordinaries excluding himself and Bella. In others...she still had a little growing to do. She had an attitude that spoke volumes of the strength and morals she kept hidden beneath the surface, she was easy going by nature and didn't like to be the cause of a fight or argument. And that was sometimes her downfall. Even Miss Peace and Harmony Bella was more outspoken and prone to little bits of "self-defensive" violence than Pandora.

Most of all, she certainly didn't like being the center of attention. Because even after all that had changed, it was still dangerous to be special and stand out in a crowd. And while most transgenics, himself included, loved nothing more than to cause a scene in spite of the fact, he knew it made Pandora extremely uncomfortable. It was only around super-close friends and family that she let loose and made her transgenic roots known.

Tonight seemed to be an exception, however. She appeared to have shaken off the restraints and hesitations to have some fun. Even though he caught her sneaking quick glances in his direction every few minutes for some reason that he couldn't fathom, that was the only evidence left of the unsure and quiet Pandora. She appeared to glow as she chatted enthusiastically with every one involved in the discussion, which appeared to be on the most recent "Eyes Only" hack.

Leave it to Pandora to be talking about something serious with a bunch of high-schoolers who cared more about their cell phones and weekly allowance than the politics of transgenic freedom and government corruption. It probably helped–at least that's what Sebastian thought–that all she had on was her bikini top and a pair of board shorts.

Would it be too caveman of him if he stomped through the little circle, hefted Pandora over his shoulder, and carried her away from all the leering eyes and almost comatose obvious staring?

Yeah. Pandora probably wouldn't like that very much. Besides it's not as if it were right of him to be thinking of her like that anyway.

"So," Bella said conversationally, interrupting Sebastian's envious thoughts as she stood beside him and faced the same direction he was. "Standing here being all green and hulk-like ain't gonna change the situation before you, you know?"

"What?" Sebastian asked impatiently, giving her a patronizing glance with one eye before turning back to Pandora and every other boy included in the trip circled around her, continuing to chat her up and make her laugh.

Bella shook her head and gave up on the argument. He still thought Pandora was too young, even though she was only one year younger than them both. Things were changing, yet they both chose to continue circling around each other. The safe route. Bella shook her head and decided to change the subject to something she'd been meaning to discuss with him.

"Nevermind. You didn't forget what's coming up, did you?" Bella asked, her tone changing into something almost anxious.

The corner of his mouth quirked up. "I have no idea what you're talking about." Sebastian replied sarcastically. Bella turned and faced him completely with a pleading look in her eyes. His tone and face settled into a reassuring expression and lowered his voice slightly. "Of course I do. How could I forget?"

"And you're sure you can catch me before I do something stupid?" Bella asked surreptitiously, glancing over at the hoard across the way for a moment before looking back to him.

"What, like get yourself knocked up?" Sebastian joked, turning his full attention on her and dipping his head down slightly.

Bella inhaled sharply and her eyes widened the slightest bit. Obviously this was not a time to be his usual snarky and sarcastic self.

He threw his arm over her shoulder and pulled her into his left side, squeezing her tightly and started walking forward.

"Relax, would ya? I've got you covered. Don't worry about a thing." Sebastian said reassuringly as he looked down at her one last time, dropping his arm as they reached the circle around Pandora. Bella nodded, looking slightly reassured but still tense.

He missed the smile that brightened Pandora's face when she glanced his way and saw him there at her side.

oooooaoo*oooxoo*oooo*oooeoooo

Oooh...is that a hint of mystery there? Wondering what's coming up for Bella and Bastian? It may or may not be what you think. You're welcome to throw you're ideas at me. And I may or may not give you a straight answer. (Hey! I can't give _all_ the goods away before a proper first date, as it were, lol!) We've still got a ways to go and it'll be all the more fun for you when it all comes together. That's the plan, anyway. And I'll let you all in on a little secret...it's physically impossible for me to keep a secret for too long when it comes to writing. How is Pandora coming along? Am I trying to stuff too much into one character? What about the others? (I'm totally asking way too many questions for an end note. Guess I'll wrap it up now.) Until next time...


	7. Forest Green

Author's note: I'm pretty sure you're going to have a newfound appreciation for the color green by the time I finally get to blue. Just look at how many of them I've got so far...and I've still got two more in store before blue becomes a possibility in this story! Anyway, I open this chapter with a flashback of Bella and Sebastian's "secret agreement" that I can't hold in any longer. Let me know if it doesn't flow right. And I've finally decided to go and up the rating to M. I think I'm on my way to earning it with this chapter. And just to let you know...this is a long one, people! Even by my standards lately.

Music Suggestions: 'Hold the door' by Armor for Sleep, 'Use me' by Hinder, 'Someday' by Nickelback, 'Falling for you' by Jem.

Disclaimer: No Dark Angel ownership rights for me this year.

Forest Green

_Sebastian almost laughed at the absurdity of the situation as he shifted from foot to foot impatiently waiting for Bella to open the door to the rear entrance of the converted New Age store she shared with her mother. He'd shown up, even though she'd given him no explanation as to why she needed a secret meeting with him. He'd shown up _early_, no less, and now he was still waiting in the rain at the back doorstep without a clue._ And _she was late. Personally, he hadn't even thought they were that great of friends for such requests._

_It had to be a female thing. Because there was no way he'd do something like this for Mason._

_He frowned down at the ground and pushed his dark brown hair out of his eyes as it fell down his face in drenched clumps. Personally, he'd rather chop it all off and keep it to a minimum. The last time he'd done that, however, Pandora had pitched a fit. For some odd reason, she liked it a little shaggy, so that's how he kept it. He kept telling himself it was just because he didn't want Pandora to throw another episode and that he was just keeping the peace._

_You wouldn't hear him saying otherwise anytime soon._

_The door creaked open and Bella peered from behind the door warily. Checking the alley in both directions, she then motioned furtively for him to come inside._

"_What's with the cloak and dagger, Bell?" Sebastian joked after she motioned him through the back door of the shop._

"_This is more for your benefit than it is mine." Bella practically hissed as she shut the door quietly behind him._

"_Yeah, I'm sure." Sebastian returned sarcastically as he followed along behind Bella to the counter in the store level. "What's up, Bell? Seriously." Sebastian queried after he sat down on a stool by the counter._

_Bella sat down wearily on the opposite stool and looked at him with a tired expression. It looked as if she hadn't slept in days. It must be something bad if she went through all this to get him here and still hesitated to talk about it. He knew he was going to regret prodding her and being all sympathetic, but he'd_ _already admitted to himself that he was a masochist years ago._

_He reached over and placed a hand over Bella's, stilling the nervous twisting as she stared at them on her lap._

"_You know I'm good at keeping secrets, Bell." Sebastian said quietly, pushing her gaze up with his free hand to meet his eyes. Her jaw was locked tight and her eyes were full of tears that she appeared to be fighting with all her strength to keep from falling._

"_Jeez, Bell. Don't cry." Sebastian ordered gently, catching a tear with the pad of his thumb. "Tell me what's wrong. I'll do whatever I can to help you out."_

"_I don't wanna get pregnant." Bella said in a barely audible tone after she nodded resolutely._

"_What's that got to do with anything?" Sebastian asked in a confused tone. "Shit. You're not...you don't think you are, do you?" Sebastian asked, almost fearfully. He didn't know who it could have been or when it could have happened, but whoever it was had better step up. Is that why she was upset? Did this guy abandon her when she found out? That would change real fast if he had anything to say about the case._

"_Oh, God no." Bella said, sniffling and laughing a little. Then she looked away at the opposite wall. "You remember how Eve hooked up with that one guy, the one who isn't affected by female X5 pheromones?" Bella asked, leading into her request._

"_Yeah, Jack." Sebastian replied slowly, pulling away from Bella and leaning against the counter. "That was a few months ago, wasn't it? Wasn't about any real feelings or anything but rather something about a controlled heat, that's the rumor isn't it?"_

"_Well...?" Bella trailed off questioningly, turning her gaze back to his hopefully._

"_What?" Sebastian asked in a surprised tone. "You're joking right? Are you seriously asking me to have a no-strings, sexual relationship with you whenever you go into heat?"_

"_Kind of, yeah." Bella replied quietly, running her fingers through her hair and pushing it off her forehead._

"_Why me? Why now?" Sebastian asked, leaning his arms down on his knees and tilting his face up to look at her speculatively._

"_One, because you're the only one I'd trust to not gloat all around town about our exploits." Bella replied. "Two, because I've seen how you are with heats. You're just like Jack."_

"_I wouldn't say exactly." Sebastian mumbled. Jack kind of liked to talk and if there was one thing Sebastian believed, it was that matters of that kind were not for public knowledge or display. "And the timing?" Sebastian prodded, gesturing for her to continue._

_When Bella's gaze returned to his, there was something different in her eyes. Something a little less inhibited and a little more closely related to lustful. It was something he'd never seen her direct at anyone ever before._

"_I think I'm going into heat. And I can't hold it back any longer." Bella replied in a husky tone. Biting her lip, Bella then stood up from her stool and stepped up next to Sebastian's. Sebastian visibly swallowed when she climbed up on the stool and straddled his lap._

"_You do know that Pandora's gonna have kittens if she ever finds out about this, right?" Sebastian stated matter-of-factly as his resistance crumbled._

_Damn girls with heat cycles and his archaic chivalric attitude._

ooozooo*ooonoo*oowo*oooeoooo

Sneaking in late after one of his encounters with Bella never got any easier. Taking into account that sneaking around transgenics was hard enough but with one that hardly slept at all and another that had sleeping patterns as unpredictable as the weather, it took an exceptional amount of skill and stealthiness. About a year and a half and three heat cycles later, neither he nor Bella had the heart to break the news to Pandora. How does one go about that kind of conversation, anyway?

His thoughts were distracted as he walked down the hall past Pandora's bedroom. His steps halted as he listened intently to the sounds coming through the door. Was she _crying_? He opened the door and crept inside.

Silently closing the door behind him, he then focused on Pandora. It didn't look like she was awake, yet tears were leaking down her face and her knees were hugged tightly to her chest as she lay on her side. And then another wrenching sob that he'd heard before he entered escaped, making her whole body shudder and his heart stop. He leaned down and placed one hand on her shoulder in a light, comforting gesture. Her eyes then shot open and sounded as if she'd swallowed a scream, sitting up violently and almost knocking him on his ass in surprise. The only thing that stopped him from doing so was the death-like grip Pandora put on his forearm when she'd sat up.

"Sebastian?" she asked in a scared tone, looking up at him with fearful eyes. She hardly ever used his full name anymore. "You really here?"

He nodded his head in response. He then tried to unsuccessfully pull his arm away. Her grip didn't waver.

"Stay with me?" Pandora asked quietly, her lower lip quivering slightly.

"I've got your back." Sebastian replied gently, sitting down on her bed and coaxing her to lay down.

Facing each other, Sebastian eased her hand down his forearm and laced his fingers with hers. She smiled placidly and closed her eyes.

He was going to hell...because what he was doing was wrong on _so_ many levels. He was glad he'd decided to take a quick shower on the way back.

ooowoo*ooouoooo*oooonooo*oooxoo

When Pandora rolled over during the night, she noticed that something was different. It took her a moment to place the feeling and scent, and then her eyes widened. What exactly was Sebastian doing in her bed? What was he doing spooned up against her back, arm wrapped around her middle securely?

"Bastian?" Pandora asked groggily, her voice still thick with sleep.

"Shh, sweet pea. It was just a bad dream. Don't worry, I've got you." Sebastian replied reassuringly, still mostly asleep as he tightened his arm around her slightly.

So she had that dream again. It was some horrible nightmare that she just couldn't shake. She could never remember what it was about when she woke up, but the cold sweat, sobbing, and fearful shaking that took minutes to subside told her that it was never anything good. And even though she never remembered it, she knew it was almost always the same. She could feel the same lingering pain and sadness deep in her bones. She almost always woke up screaming. Apparently it was so bad this time that she'd woken Sebastian and he'd come to stay with her.

It gave her a safe and comforted feeling at the thought of Sebastian staying with her...if only to try and protect her from her dreams. However it was more likely that he'd gotten too close and she'd reached out, yanked him down, and refused to let go.

But still, the thought that he'd stayed meant a lot.

ooozoo*ooomo*ooowoooo*ooosoooo*

"Bastian! Look out!" Pandora shouted as she lunged towards him. He turned quickly with wide eyes as she tackled him. She understood the startled expression as they went tumbling over the edge of a steep hill.

Pandora felt Sebastian's arms lock around her protectively, one around her head with the other around her back, as they rolled down the seemingly never-ending decline.

Sebastian grunted as they landed hard at the bottom, him absorbing most of the impact. Pandora laid there silently for a few moments, a little shell-shocked by what her simple little preventative measure had caused. Sebastian had been scouting the horizon and had his back turned to the camouflage transgenic, for some reason completely unaware that he was about to be taken out of the game only fifteen minutes in.

Most of the transgenics were enjoying a little game aptly named "War". More or less , they were paint-balling the hell out of each other during the few precious hours of away time they got every year in a lovely secluded forested area about forty-five minutes outside of Seattle. While the ordinaries' viewpoints and prejudices had tapered down some and transgenics were technically allowed to come and leave as they pleased from Terminal City, it was understood that people only really tolerated the normal looking X-series in their day-to-day life and routine. So for the most part, the anomalies and otherwise "freakish-looking" transgenics hardly ever left TC's boundaries.

Needless to say, Max had been upset with that "implied and understood but never spoken aloud" rule and negotiated for some "recreational away time" that could be cashed in whenever she wished. Basically it came down to the Seattle government sending over a few buses that would take them to any destination the transgenics chose. It was rather ingenious of her mother to pull the "we're genetically engineered super soldiers that could kill you before you can blink if you upset us" card.

Anyway, it all led up to her current predicament.

Pandora finally decided to sit up, pulling her pinned arms from between them as Sebastian relinquished his hold on her.

"You know, forest camo looks great on you." Sebastian teased, reaching up to pluck a few leaves and pine needles out her now loose ponytail.

Pandora looked up, blowing a errant lock of hair out of her eyes before huffing out impudently.

"I could say the same to you." Pandora countered, shifting minutely to brush his hair off his forehead on her way to pick at the dead leaves that had collected in his hair.

Pandora fell silent at the strange expression that flitted across his face and how his body tensed up slightly beneath her. That was when she noticed how exactly they'd landed and the position they were now in. In all the years of knowing him and physical altercations, she could honestly say that this was the first time she'd ended up with Sebastian straddled between her legs. She really didn't know what to think about that.

And apparently, he didn't look very comfortable with the position either.

"Bastian?" Pandora asked softly, lifting up and settling back down on him a little further back as she found she was sitting on his stomach. She gasped and her breath hitched when she settled against something she'd never felt before. Never felt before on any man.

"Bastian?" she asked again, this time with a mixture of confusion and worry when his eyes screwed up and his fingers dug deep into her thighs.

She heard the footsteps approaching the same time he did.

"Ah hell, here we go again." Sebastian said reproachfully as he yanked Pandora back down to his chest and over another precipice that Pandora hadn't even realized was there.

This time when they landed, Pandora was crushed between Sebastian and the ground. Sunlight filtered through the trees with a prism-like quality, momentarily blinding her until Sebastian lifted his head up and blocked it from view.

"Are you alright?" Sebastian asked gently, trailing his fingertips down her face softly.

Pandora nodded in the affirmative, unable to speak with the revelation that was still spiraling through her brain. Sebastian was turned on by being between her legs. And when she realized how her legs were situated around his and tightened their grip imperceptibly she realized that she was aroused by him being there as well. She liked the pressure he was expending at the apex of her thighs and began to imagine how it would feel if he began to move. Would she like the way it felt? Would she say yes if he wanted to do more than that?

She didn't like where these jumbled thoughts were leading. Sure, there were times when she wondered what it'd be like to have a boyfriend, but sex was a little much right now. Besides, friends weren't supposed to be like this...feel like this. It wasn't right.

Even though it felt as if it was.

Pandora saw the bashful and almost vulnerable expression cross his face before his ducked his head down to her neck, seemingly to hide it there.

"This is way too much action for one day." Sebastian mumbled against her neck, the double meaning not lost on Pandora, resting on his elbows above her but otherwise not trying to get up. He laid there for a few more moments above her before she felt him try and roll off of her. Instinctively, she tightened her legs around him, effectively trapping him as well as flexing her hips forcefully into his.

She gasped again in surprise as he pulled her head to one side with one hand and felt his teeth repeatedly nip at the skin at the juncture of her shoulder and neck, his hips rocking into her.

She heard him inhale sharply as he jerked his head away. He then turned his eyes to hers and looked at her fiercely.

"Let go of me, Pandora." Sebastian ordered quietly, almost threateningly.

"Oh. Right." Pandora squeaked out, her vocal cords constricting shut at Sebastian's dark gaze as her legs unwound in a lightening fast motion. Sebastian rolled to the side, breathing heavily.

Both laid there shoulder to shoulder in an uncomfortable silence, staring up at the sky until they heard voices calling out for them. It was time to leave.

ooouooo*ooonoo*ooosoo*oooowooo

So...how many of you all guessed that heat was the secret between Bella and Sebastian? I'll explain it a little more in the next chapter (I hope). And I kind of wanted to do more with the last scene of this chapter, but I was like "Good God! Just end already!" so I ended it there. About the last scene...was it hot or was it not? Too abrupt or confusing? Do you think it deserves the M rating or am I overshooting it? I've always wanted to write a scene like that and I always pictured it with Max and Alec in a real-life attack scene. But I thought that this worked just as well. On a different note, does it sound like Sebastian's getting around too much? And Mason was nowhere to be found in this chapter. I'll make sure he gets some more of the spotlight in oncoming chapters, promise. I'm thinking that's about it for now. Until next time...


	8. Olive

**Author's note**: Yeah...this is becoming a little more suggestive than what I had originally started out with. Can we say "voyeurism" anyone? Oh and I just watched the Sex and the City movie last week and oh my God this first scene is almost the exact same scenario. It's actually kind of freaky considering I wrote this _before_ I saw the movie and that shower scene with Dante. And if you've seen the movie, you might know the scene I'm talking about. (Pause for a moment to reflect...dreamy sigh...) And I've also been re-reading some of my favorite Linda Howard books. I didn't mention this in the last chapter, but I borrowed a name from my first and foremost favorite Linda Howard book, Open Season. On with the story.

**Music Suggestions**: 'Fly to the angels' by Slaughter, 'Alone' by Heart, 'Waste my time' by Alexz Johnson', 'Still in the dark' by Aranda.

**Disclaimer**: Don't own Dark Angel. Only the original characters that I have created for this story.

Olive 

The first time she'd seen him completely naked, she hadn't understood why his body looked so different from hers. It'd had been shortly after her mom and dad had adopted him into their family and the only boys she'd seen naked had been her baby brothers. She'd never seen one in proportion to her own body before. All she chose to remember from that time was that she'd been jealous he was going to be bigger and stronger than her. Something that would put her at a disadvantage.

Almost twelve years later, she wouldn't at all mind those disadvantages, if only they would slam her soundly against the nearest flat surface and kiss her senseless. She didn't care about the less than appealing, questionable cleanliness of the drab olive colored concrete walls or the fact that this was a community bathing area. Or the fact that she'd been staring for at least a solid five minutes at his bare backside as he showered unawares in the stall directly in her line of sight, as soon as she walked through the door.

The boy had no sense of discretion whatsoever. The perfectly operational shower curtain hung uselessly to one side of the stall he was in, apparently uncaring at all of who may happen by and decide to take a shower as well. He _did_ realize that this was a _coed_ public shower? As in male _and _female? Did he not realize how undeniably _edible_ he was to the female population as a whole?

He'd definitely changed a lot since the last time. They both had. At the time, he'd barely even looked at her long enough to ascertain–as well as inform her–that she was small for her age. She'd sputtered indignantly at the accusation. She'd only been about five at the time. What was she supposed to look like, an Amazon?

She could now safely say that he'd more than momentarily glance at her if the situation were ever reversed. She wouldn't call herself an exhibitionist–far from it–but for some reason she _wanted_ Sebastian to see her naked...and like what he saw. As if she wanted to prove to him that she'd grown..._up_ as well as out. Which was absurd because he had to have noticed that by now; just about everyone else had.

It was always "Oh look how beautiful you are," or "Wow, sweetie, you look just like your mother," or "Damn, that girl was smokin' hot!" Of course, she'd put the last man and his comment in his place after he'd pinched her ass in passing. Needless to say, she was not unaware of how "hot" she was and she swore up and down that that jerk had just tripped over her foot–twice–and landed on her fist.

But she'd also learned a thing or two about men and their complete lack of admitting to their feelings. At least, the ones a girl wanted to anyway.

Back to the matter at hand.

It made her wonder, were Sebastian ever in her position–practically drooling as she stared, completely captivated–would he react the same? Would he watch as the spray of water cascaded down her back in large rivulets as she pushed her hair out of her face with both hands, almost as if they were moving in slow motion trailing down her neck, past her shoulder blades and further downward until upper level brain function short-circuited itself?

Because she was. She was staring with rapt fascination at someone who, at most times, she considered a best friend. She wasn't stupid or deluded. Pandora knew that her feelings were beginning to change for Sebastian. At least she was proud enough to say she'd started falling for his personality and actions rather than his body. However, it didn't make it any easier to admit to such feelings out loud. Pandora knew she should turn around or at least continue on and make her presence known to him as she took a shower of her own, which _is_ what she'd originally come here for.

And she almost had herself convinced that she could move–when he turned around. Thankfully, he'd had his eyes closed and his face upturned towards the shower head as he rinsed shampoo out of his hair because the jist would've been up right there. Because she could _not_ stop staring, not even to blink, as her jaw went completely slack.

Well, at least she could say with a fair amount of certainty that his backside was only a prelude when compared to the front. Her head tilted to one side and she had to bite back the moan that threatened to escape as she took in the front end. There was no threating that Sebastian wasn't a man from this point of view because the man was stacked in every possible way. When fully clothed, he actually looked kind of lanky and, at times, kind of emo-ish. However, it was a _whole_ different story without such interferences. His pecs were tight and would no doubt be firm yet pliable under her touch (although she sort of already had up-close, first-hand evidence to attribute to with their run-in awhile back). A light sprinkling of brown hair started on his chest and trailed downward. Down the center of the most rock-solid looking torso until...the blush spread both up towards her face and down her neck as her gaze stopped on the most solid difference between them.

She wasn't anywhere near an expert in this area, but _it_, or rather _he_ was aroused. And she was pretty sure it was more than just the shower considering the expression she'd noted on her perusal down. He was thinking about someone. Or some _girl_, to be more specific. It made her wonder, did he ever think of her_, _or had that been just a one-time, "you're a girl and on top of me" kind of thing?

Her hypothesis was confirmed and her knees buckled when he trailed one hand lightly down his wet body and gripped it, stroking back and forth experimentally a few times. Pandora frowned petulantly when he turned back around, bracing one arm above his head against the wall as he started stroking himself more vigorously. She hadn't even realized she'd closed her eyes until she heard Sebastian groan deeply, as if satisfied.

She stood up straight from the wall she'd slumped against and took a deep, fortifying breath before she continued into the room and to a stall opposite from Sebastian's.

She still couldn't believe that she'd practically leered at Sebastian, appraising him as if he were a piece of meat. And while most girls would have probably given a finger or a toe to have been in her shoes, it wasn't like her to ogle naked men as they were showering. Any other time she would have shielded her eyes and passed on by without a second thought, and perhaps given a severe scolding for their inability to properly use a shower curtain.

She was changing, and she wasn't yet sure if it was for the better.

She dropped her bag of toiletries more forcefully than necessary to make her presence known, and then pulled her t-shirt over her head slowly out of spite and dropped it on the bench in front of the stall she'd chosen.

"You know Bastian, a little modesty goes a long way." Pandora said in a patronizing tone, sneaking a peek over her shoulder at him as his head shot up in surprise. She hid her smirk into her shoulder as he turned to face her and yanked the shower curtain across the lower half of his exposed body.

She couldn't tell if the slightly red tinge in his cheeks was from embarrassment of just the heat of his shower as he shrugged.

"You know what they say..." Sebastian remarked smoothly, an unrepentant grin forming on his lips. "Flaunt it while you've got it." he finished cheekily.

"Uh huh." Pandora retorted disbelievingly.

As far as she was concerned, he could flaunt it in front of her whenever he wanted.

oooooowoo*ooooocooo

Sebastian stared down at the floor where Pandora stood, lost in thought and unable to look at her for too long considering how she was standing before him in only a bra and a pair of well worn jeans.

How had he not even known she was there? Ever since he hit puberty, she was the only girl he could think about. And he wasn't about to deny and say it wasn't mostly sexual. He'd realized how truly stunning she was a long, _long_ time ago. She honestly did look just like her mother, Max. From the luscious wavy brown hair and full lips to her petite body structure, she was almost a spitting image. All for the eyes, which were a clear unwavering green, and her height. Standing at six foot himself, the top of her head was at his nose level while they were both standing. And as most men that had seen her in a mini-skirt would attest to, Pandora had legs for days. To him, there was nothing about her that didn't scream perfection. He was constantly aware of her presence and the littlest things about her would turn him on at the most unusual times. He couldn't get her out of his head, no matter how hard he tried.

That little episode that had happened between them a few weeks back hadn't helped matters much, either. He couldn't believe what he'd almost done with her. He'd almost gone and messed up everything, all because he had trouble controlling his baser instincts. She probably hadn't even realized the power her body had over his and what that last movement had meant to him. He'd almost followed through right there. Fortunately, he'd been able to pull himself back once again. But it had been _so_ undeniably hard this time.

Hell, she probably didn't even _really_ want him like that but rather _her_ baser instincts had told her that he would be a suitable mate. Outstanding if he didn't say so himself.

There was something about her, something that was so addictive that he'd long since given up on resisting. It'd been easier to control before he knew how utterly wonderful and perfect her legs felt wound around him. It made him wonder how they would've felt draped over his shoulders as he thrust into her. And then she'd bucked her hips up and rubbed against him...he had about died the pleasure was so intense. And the acceptance. The invitation he'd almost given into, if the small bite mark just under the collar of her t-shirt had been any indication. It had taken everything in him to not mate with her right there in the woods on the forest floor as if they were nothing but a couple of animals.

And while he wasn't so sure about himself, he knew for a fact that Pandora was better than that.

He _did_ try to get her out of his head. In fact, he'd actually become kind of good at it over the past couple of years. He didn't like to brag, but he'd been around the transgenic female block a time or two. He even kind of had an open ended arrangement with Pandora's friend, Bella. Since he seemed to be unaffected by the heat cycle, which was an oddity of sorts considering there were only a handful of males that were, he'd agreed to keep her "occupied" during hers. It was a win-win situation for both of them. He was able to keep his head in the game and not get her pregnant, while she was really the only friend he had who had any chance of understanding his confusing feelings for Pandora. Because she was, in fact, falling in love with someone who hardly even looked at her twice.

It didn't help the situation any that he was an ordinary and Sebastian's other best friend. But crushes could be bizarre like that.

Pandora's voice momentarily broke through his thoughts.

"Do you mind? Kind of need to take my clothes off now. You know, for the whole shower thing." Pandora said casually, shrugging one shoulder slightly with one corner of her mouth twitching upward.

"Oh, um...right. You mean I don't get to watch?" Sebastian retorted as he ducked his head down almost shyly, close to tripping over the words before the familiar banter kicked in and he tilted his head up to look at her with a suggestive tone in his hooded eyes. An entirely playful and innocent expression, of course. A look that, had it been directed at any other woman, would have had her undressed and in his shower faster that one could blink.

He hid the triumphant smirk when Pandora visibly floundered a moment before responding.

"Just shut up and turn around." Pandora finally forced out, rolling her eyes and shaking her head.

He liked to think he almost had her.

ooooooaooo*ooooooovooo

Well?! Was I right, or was I right about the M rating for this chapter? Anyway. I pretty much listened to 'Still in the dark' on repeat as I wrote this whole chapter. It just screams "Sebastian" to me. Yeah, it's kind of scary sometimes how much influence music has on me. Yeah...I should probably ask you all what you thought of the _chapter_ and not just go on about music all day. So...what'd you think? Thoughts? Ideas? I plan on going into more detail about the whole Bella/Sebastian "thing" in the next chapter and the "Fit just might hit the shan" when it comes to the Pandora angle of the triangle, if you get what I'm saying. I haven't yet worked out all the details yet. That's kind of the plan. Okay...going to stop talking now :-) Until next time...


	9. Turquoise

Author's note: Anyway, I know it's no excuse, but I really struggled with this one because, thankfully, I have no first hand experience with the situation. Okay, anyone watch Life with Derek? Well, when I imagined this "unveiling" scene, I was thinking about Casey's reaction to seeing Truman and Vicky kissing in the "Truman's Last Chance" episode. Also got another Life with Derek reference as well as a little Dane Cook reference. Good karma tokens to those that discover them! Without further ado...

Music suggestions: 'What I've done' by Linkin Park, 'Lovin, touchin, squeezin' by Journey, '99 times' by Kate Voegele, 'Lie to me' by 12 stones.

Disclaimer: Nope. Own Dark Angel, I do not.

Turquoise

Bella knew she was in too deep after she slept with him for the first time outside of a heat. She still wasn't quite sure how it had happened. Maybe one of them had thought that she was entering a heat cycle and the time was convenient to disappear for a few hours. Then the heat never came. The wild, crazy, uninhibited sex that usually kicked in the moment their clothes started coming off, never showed.

In actuality, she discovered that she was rather uncoordinated and, well, quiet during the act. Of course, that didn't mean she was unresponsive. She had just been caught by surprise, that's all. Now that she thought back on that first time, it was probably the first time she'd had sex with anyone that didn't involve a Manticore induced byproduct of their genetic engineering. She was glad it had been with Sebastian, because even though they both got a laugh out of it afterwards, it had been embarrassing as all hell.

Of course, that didn't stop either one of them from embracing the guilt that encompassed their situation. It was something that had lurked around the edges ever since that first heat when she'd barely been able to hold herself back long enough to ask him to help her out. He never complained. He _was_ a guy, after all. That was their primary drive after eating and breathing anyway, right? But she knew how he felt about Pandora. They were all getting older, and the "she's too young" excuse was starting wane away. She knew what his greatest fear was, because it was the same as hers: rejection. He loved Pandora, and whether or not his biological makeup had anything to do with it, he insisted upon taking the easy route.

And she was ashamed to admit that it was her.

All they needed to complete the little soap opera they'd created was to discover that Mason and Pandora were in fact sleeping together–and not in the platonic sense that they'd been prone to on occasion. Yeah, she was sure that would just make her day.

It was a twisted little life she led.

She was almost expecting the day to come that involved Pandora walking in on them. There was no avoiding the situation. It was only a matter of time.

ooooomooo*ooosoo*oowooo*osooao

Pandora had always been a little curious as to how Bella was controlling her heats on her own. She knew that someone was "helping" her, a few of her generation X5 males were born to pimp themselves out like that. No one could figure out how a handful of the next generation males were "rewired" as such that they could control themselves during heat episodes. She was pretty sure Eve's "booty call" boyfriend, Jack, was like that. It hadn't been much of a secret, especially with the way Jack liked to talk. She also knew for sure Sebastian was like that too, along with about ten to fifteen others, depending on who you were talking to.

She was sure there was a good story behind how Bella had chosen Sebastian to keep her heats in check, but she wasn't very interested in hearing _that_ story anytime soon. She knew Sebastian slept around, she wasn't that naive. He'd have to be some kind of saint if he didn't. She'd just honestly never considered Bella fitting into his nightly rounds. Wasn't there some kind of girl code that prevented one friend from sleeping with the other's well-known crush? Of course, she had never actually _admitted_ to it out loud, but it had to be obvious to one that knew her as well as Bella did, right?

Deep down, she never really wanted to know _who_ Bella was screwing. And now that she did, it felt as if the bubble she'd been living in for the past few years had been punctured. She still couldn't believe _how _she'd stumbled over their secret rendezvous. She'd needed to use the bathroom and her curiosity had been peaked when she heard "interesting"sounds coming from the other side of the door. She'd tip-toed the last few steps, giggling to herself and how childish the act been as she inched the door open enough to peek her head through. It hadn't even been shut all the way. If she'd been conducting a secret affair almost literally right underneath their friends' and families' noses, she'd have been damned sure the door was shut, locked, and sound-proofed before going so far as to steal a _kiss_ or two.

Yeah, they'd been doing a lot more than that when she peeked inside. The image of Bella's dress bunched up – the beautiful turquoise halter that _she'd_ helped Bella pick out – around her hips with one leg wound around Sebastian's and her head thrown back in ecstasy as Sebastian licked and teased her neck, would forever be burned in her memory.

It had been Mason's sixteenth birthday party. It wasn't her party, but it might as well have been with how anticlimactic it was to find two of the three most important people in her whole world more or less screwing in the bathroom.

She turned her head away in disbelief and pulled the door back to its previous position. Once she forced her hand to let go of the door knob, she backed away from the door. Feeling as if she were moving in slow motion, her back finally made contact with the opposite wall. Sliding down the wall, Pandora brought her fist up to her mouth to choke the keening wail of betrayal as her butt hit the floor and her legs spread akimbo. She sat there for a grand total of three seconds.

Wiping away the few stray tears that had leaked down her face, Pandora took a deep breath and stood. With one last look at the door, she then turned and walked back towards the party, locking the night's enlightening episode and all the feelings she had attached to Sebastian in a little box in the furthest recesses of her brain. The furthest away from the heart that was shattering into a thousand tiny shards at her feet.

ooomo*ooooonoooo*oooso*oooaoeoooo*

When had his life turned into such a clusterfuck?

Honestly? He knew he brought it all on himself. But what had they been _thinking_ going at it in the Cale's bathroom with a party going on not even twenty feet away? They hadn't even shut the door all the way. When had they become so careless? It was almost as if they'd been daring someone to barge in and discover them.

And someone finally had. Unfortunately, it had to be the one person in the entire world that he'd have given anything to not have been. He hadn't seen her, but he'd felt that familiar shift in the air that he always felt whenever Pandora was near.

When he paused and looked up, the door was shut again and no one was there, but he knew she'd seen enough.

"Pandora." Sebastian whispered, staring at the door. Bella looked down guiltily, extracting herself from around Sebastian and stepping back.

"You know we can't do this anymore, right?" Sebastian stated quietly, stuffing his hands in his pockets.

"Yeah, I know." Bella replied softly, a tight smile forming on her lips for a moment before the expression fell and she dropped her gaze down to the floor.

Pandora was nowhere to be seen when Sebastian cracked open the door.

oooosooo*ooonoo*oooaoooo*ooouoo

"Dad, would it be cool if I stay here at Mason's for a few days?" Pandora asked once she made her way through the crowded living room and reached her parents.

"Sure, sweetheart. You know you don't have to ask. Just make sure it's okay with Logan and Asha. I'm sure they won't mind, but they _are_ going away for their anniversary tomorrow." Alec answered, a frown forming. Something was wrong, he could feel it.

"Yeah, okay. And don't look at me like that, Dad. I'm fine." Pandora said, forcing a smile.

A worried look passed between Alec and Max when he looked down at her seated on the couch.

"Oh, and Dad?" Pandora asked suddenly, turning back to face them after taking a few steps. "Could you kind of not tell Sebastian or Bella where I am?"

"Pandora..." Alec began, confusion evident in his voice.

"Please, Dad? I need some space right now." Pandora begged wearily, the happy facade slipping for a few moments.

Max stood and put her arm around Alec's waist, shaking her head imperceptibly for him to back off.

"Alright, sweet. We won't say anything." Max interjected, sending a supportive smile to her daughter.

Pandora returned a relieved smile. Turning, she practically fled towards the back entrance without looking back.

"Something's wrong, Max. And she didn't tell us." Alec said once he heard the door slam shut. The worry and a hint of petulance laced his words. Max squeezed his side encouragingly and laid her head against his shoulder.

"I know." Max agreed, staring off in the same direction their daughter had disappeared in. Their daughter had a problem, and it was the first time they couldn't do anything to make it better.

ooovoo*oooxooo*ooozoouooo*ooomo

I've got to tell you, studying for a CDL really sucks the fun out of writing. Especially when you don't want to drive a big, stupid, moving truck for work anyway (pouting petulantly). I'm _female_, I shouldn't have to drive the truck. That's the man's job, right? (Deep breath for me) Yeah, had to get that little rant out of the way. Anyway, I'm really grateful to those of you that have stuck it out this far. Let me know if something doesn't line up. I'm so deep into this story with so many ideas jumbled in my head that sometimes I either get ahead of myself or start mixing things up! Until next time...


	10. Blue

Author's note: Yes, my loyal readers, we have finally moved on to another color entirely. Blue is on the scene! Anyway, this is the idea that first made me want to continue the story after my "white" oneshot. Mason and Pandora encountering her first heat, even the color I chose to write it under, inspired me before any other color. Sure, I may have had to tweak it here and there due to the twisty-turning path my storyline took on, but for the most part, what you see here is as old as my "white" chapter. So with all that rambling said, read and enjoy!

Music suggestions: 'Take me on the floor' by The Veronicas, 'Sweet misery' by Michelle Branch, 'Feel good drag' by Anberlin, 'Breathing slowly' by Crossfade.

Disclaimer: Simply put, Dark Angel is not mine.

Blue

It was the day after his sixteenth birthday that she had her first heat. Her mother had warned her that it still wasn't clear if she would inherit the gene or not. Gem's daughter, Eve, hadn't until she was eighteen. Sometimes it didn't show up at all in the second generation, "home grown" as it were, transgenics. She thought she'd been prepared. There wasn't much to the plan: feel hot and sex-crazed, head straight home and lock all the doors, close all the windows, and chain herself to a cold shower.

She thought she had self-control, more so than any other person she'd ever met. Just look at her two best friends: both very hot, very attractive _boys_. That meant they weren't even close to their peak of hotness. One was transgenic and the other...well, not. She could go on nonstop about Sebastian and how "perfect" he was. Well, until yesterday anyway. As for Mason, she didn't hold his ordinary status against him. It didn't stop her from admiring the view. He did receive the very best of his parents' genome. Six feet and two inches of straight up solid and attractive man.

Her point? Loads of self control.

However, she had no idea how strong the pull would be. The hunger. To feel fire racing through her veins at the pinnacle of that passionate embrace.

She later learned that Sebastian had to be pinned down by six other male transgenics, of which included her father, sedated, and strapped to a chair at the other end of TC to keep him from coming for her. To make her his. Of course, no one had realized at the time that it was her. But he had known before anyone else. Instinctively. That had to mean something, didn't it?

Unfortunately for her other male best friend, he had no such awareness. Conveniently for her, she had been sitting right across from him, wallowing in her sorrows from the night before, when the heat began to take over her. She hadn't even seen it coming. Erotic dreams plagued her on a regular basis. How could she not let herself indulge once in a while?

She should have known something was up when Mason had been the leading man in her dreams the night before. She'd just been thinking about how Mason would never do anything low and despicable like that to her. He was just as hot as Sebastian, yet he didn't go and sleep around. As far as she knew, he'd never even been past first base. _Mason_ was the loyal one in their friendship.

He was wearing a blue shirt, the one she herself had just given him the day before. When she'd seen it at that outdoor market, it had immediately reminded her of his eyes. She loved Mason's eyes. They were such a crystal clear blue, just like the pre-pulse picture she'd seen of a beach somewhere in the Caribbean, with water that you could see straight to the bottom of.

And those were the very same eyes that stayed locked onto hers as she lowered herself onto him, gasping out when he pierced through her barrier to fill her completely.

The first time had been rather awkward and short, but the heartfelt kiss and warm embrace he'd gathered her into at the end of it all had left her feeling contented and safe. Considering how sluttish she felt for using her best friend in a way that he never did deserve. His first time should have been on his own terms, at his own pace. On the other hand, he didn't argue much with her logic. She wasn't an idiot. She knew she was gifted in the looks department. Who would say no to her if she wanted to have sex with them, especially for just one night?

But he had. He had tried to argue. But at that point, she was too far gone to think rationally.

If there was one thing she'd have never guessed about Mason was that after that first awkward time, he was a regular stallion in bed. Even in her heat induced state, she'd been rather surprised at the three other times he'd been ready and up to attention, as it were, when she craved another taste to sate her insatiable craving. In the end, though, he was only human.

"Sweet misery you cause me." Mason murmured quietly against her forehead as he clutched her to him after that final time in the dead of the night, tangled up around each other, a dewy sheen glistening off of them both in the moonlight. The heat had started lift away at that point, leaving her momentarily confused and disoriented.

She laid there with him until his breathing had evened out, indicating that he'd fallen asleep. When that happened, she extracted herself from around his body, threw on clothes that weren't necessarily hers, and ran away as quietly as her transgenic feet would carry her as silent tears leaked from her eyes.

Who was left for her to turn to now?

oooomooo*ooooaowooo*ooovoo*ooozo

He knew something was different when she flounced back into his room after going to the bathroom that night after the party wearing the light, floaty pale-blue tie-dye dress that was _his_ favorite on her. They'd made it together from the white dress her mother had handed down to her a few years back. It was a little shorter on Pandora, but in all other respects, it worked. She hadn't even bothered to bring pajamas to change into. Instead, she pulled one of his t-shirts from his closet and winked-_winked!-_at him before motioning for him to turn around so she could change.

It got stranger when he woke up the next morning with one of her legs draped over his waist and her hand on his chest...under his shirt. Sure, it wasn't the first time they'd slept in a bed together-in a strictly platonic sense-and it wasn't the first time one of them had ended up wrapped up by the other, but the embrace she had him in felt more...well, _more_.

Of course, the rubbing may have had something to do with that. He'd nearly jumped out of his skin the first time it happened. He laid there stiffly next to her, afraid to move at all. And he almost convinced himself that she'd just been shifting in her sleep when she did it again. She clenched her leg around him and then relaxed it and he could feel her...girl parts creating friction against his left hip.

He jerked out of her grip and fell in a heap to the floor in shock when she squeezed the pec her hand had been laying against. Hard. Pandora jerked up from the bed and stared down at him with a wide-eyed expression rivaling his.

He'd just been manhandled by his best friend. And the morning wood he was now sporting had nothing to do with needing to pee.

"I just...I'm gonna...yep." Pandora stuttered uncomfortably, the last word coming out more like a squeak as she gestured to the door. Mason nodded his head in agreement. Pandora threw off the covers, hopped off the opposite side of the bed, and made a dash for the exit.

"Oh-okay." Mason stuttered in response to her back, waving at her half-heartedly from the floor. When the bathroom door slammed shut, Mason groaned pitifully and fell back onto the floor beneath him.

It took reciting the "Pledge of Allegiance" three times before his..._condition_ improved.

It wasn't until that afternoon that it started getting _really_ bizarre. He could see the slightly flushed hue of her skin and how she kept skimming her fingers across her lips and around her neck as she sent smoldering glances his way. Really? How was he supposed to react to her very anti-Pandora behavior? He ignored her. He read his book intently, propped up against the headboard of his bed with one knee bent and the other extended out on the bed.

So intent was he on pushing thoughts of her strange staring away that he hadn't even seen her stand up slowly from the chair she was sitting in and pad across the carpet silently towards him.

He nearly jumped out of his skin when he felt the bed sink down to one side as she sat down next to him, placing one hand on the opposite side of his torso and bringing her face inches from his. He visibly gulped at the hungry look in her eyes.

"Did you know that sex is the only activity that a man will devote his complete attention to?" Pandora asked huskily, the lust behind her gaze bowling him over.

"Pandora are you mental? We can't..." Mason said insistently, trying to get away from her. She couldn't possibly be in her right mind to want sex this badly, this...abashedly. From _him_, no less. And then realization dawned too late. She was going through one of those heat cycles that she'd always feared and despised.

Blood immediately began to pull south away from his brain when she cupped the bulge in his jeans, kneading the area gently as her mouth fused with his, her tongue forcing its way between his gaping mouth to tangle with his. The guttural groan that escaped him only fueled her on, pushing his leg down and swinging her leg over his to straddle his waist.

"Guess what I'm not wearing." Pandora breathed into his ear with a sing-song lilt to her voice as her hands groped at any body part she could get her hands on.

And that included her own. Pulling away from his lips momentarily, her hands fluttered up to her chest as she sat back slightly and swirled her fingers lightly over her breasts before cupping herself as she arched her back into her own ministrations. His eyes were fixated to her breasts as she let go, revealing the taut peaks of her nipples straining against the soft fabric. But the wicked grin on her face only widened as he followed her hands down to the skirt of her dress, watching as she hitched up one side to reveal nothing but smooth, supple skin.

And no underwear.

It took approximately five seconds for his brain to process the fact that his sweet, innocent, almost prudish female best friend was rubbing herself against him wantonly with nothing between her body and his hands but a flimsy little dress and his redirected blood flow to stand up fully erect, painfully against the zipper of his jeans.

"Pandora, I'm not...I-I haven't..." Mason said jiltingly, still half-heartedly protesting her to stop when she placed a finger on his lips to silence him.

"Shh..." Pandora soothed quietly. "Don't worry so much. I'll help you relax." she finished, pulling back once again. She smiled devilishly as she brought her hands back up to the top of her dress and pushed the strapless top down to her stomach, leaving her breasts to tighten in the cool night air breezing through the open bedroom window.

His hands rose up of their own accord, each hand engulfing a breast as he began to knead each mound experimentally before the shock even wore off.

"Oh, yes, Mason." Pandora moaned out plaintively, almost pleadingly as her back arched and her head fell back in rapture. "Touch me."

He could feel the hot, damp heat of her desire seeping through his jeans where her center ground against his, causing him to throb even more painfully against his now constrictive jeans. That is until he found himself sitting up, mouth and teeth latched onto one nipple, tugging at it almost roughly as mewling sounds of pleasure reverberated off the walls of the empty house and her hands snaked down between them to unbutton and unzip his jeans. He almost died when he felt one of her cool hands reach inside his briefs to free his throbbing erection from its prison.

Then he felt himself being pushed back down onto the bed. Opening his eyes curiously, his gaze connected with hers as he placed his hands on her hips, her body sinking slowly onto his. His eyes held fast even when the sensation of just barely being inside her threatened to ruin everything. A tiny gasp escaped her as he connected and tore through the thin barrier of her virginity, continuing onward until she was fully seated on him.

The sensations coursing through him were indescribable and she hadn't even pulled back up yet. She was fluttering wildly around him. He knew sex would be fantastic, but oh my God he had _no_ idea. He attempted to breathe twice before he was finally able to successfully draw in a breath. He was only sixteen, not to mention fully inexperienced in the sex department. How long did she really expect him to last?

"Ooh...I love the feeling of you inside me." Pandora crooned in his ear, running her hands underneath his shirt and squeezing his pecs. "So hard."

Groaning, his eyes squeezed shut as he tried to concentrate on _not_ coming before they even started. How many more situations like this were going to be thrown his way? And how long before she realized how wrong it was and blamed him for not being resilient enough?

She then rocked away from him, rising up as she twisted around until she reached the tip before plunging back down, repeating the motion in the opposite direction each time – slowly to start before speeding up incrementally each time. She actually hissed at him when he began to rise up to meet her now frenzied pace.

"Oooh, think you can keep up now, do you?" Pandora asked in a coy tone, her smile almost predatory. She then reached down and touched herself, making sure his eyes followed. "Let's see what you've got."

He didn't even register what had happened until he felt a blinding pressure building and then a sudden release low in his abdomen that he'd came.

"Mmm...a girl could get used to that feeling." Pandora purred in his ear. "Although, I don't really appreciate being left behind." she finished, pouting.

"What can I say?" Mason joked between breaths, his chest heaving slightly with a twinkle in his eyes. "Guess I had to be faster than you at something."

"I suppose." Pandora said whimsically, the teasing glint reflecting. "And I suppose that you could make it up to me." she continued musingly. "Just one question: Mouth or hands?"

"Excuse me?" Mason asked, his brain still only functioning at half its normal processing speed.

Nothing could have prepared him for her reply.

"I want you to go down on me." Pandora stated matter-of-factly.

He learned a lot that night and to be honest, he'd had no idea Pandora knew so much about sex. It was surely the most memorable night of his life.

Even though he had a feeling she would be gone by the time he woke, the disappointment and sadness that consumed him when he woke to an empty bed was just as memorable as the events that had transpired the night before.

Nothing would be the same, no matter how much anyone tried to force it.

ooooaooo*oooxo*ooovoo*oooowooo

Is the ending too abrupt? I didn't like the ending I had written in my journal, and this is what I finally came up with to replace it. And, I was kind of getting too into detail, causing the chapter to just run on and on... and I was resolved to get this up as quickly as possible (in my terms, anyway). So...yeah. Well, you know how it is...things to do, people to see, i-tunes issues to resolve... Until next time...


	11. Indigo

Author's Note: I kind of deflated after writing Blue. I literally didn't have anything for this chapter. So then I went through a list of possible characters I could bring in to help Pandora along and then well...you'll see soon enough. And then as I was writing this all up, I couldn't get all the pieces to be all cohesive-like. (I'm totally starting to sound like the Chinese drive-thru lady from Dude, Where's My Car) And then, I was like, "Just stop procrastinating already and post the damn thing!" Also, a sort of hint/explanation for this particular turn in the story...I watched Sky High recently. You remember Warren Peace and the whole "My enemy became my best friend..." spiel at the end of the movie? Yeah, it's kind of where I got this idea.

Music Suggestions: 'Broken road' by 12 Stones, 'So long' by Stereoside, 'I'm so sick' by Flyleaf, 'Liar' by Rains.

Disclaimer: (Insert undignified unlady-like snort here) Yeah right. Owning big TV shows like Dark Angel just isn't my bag.

Indigo

By the time she arrived at the door of the last person on earth she thought she'd ever have to turn to, the infamous Seattle rain began to pour from a dark, indigo-colored sky. Holding up the jeans that were twice her size and wiping her nose on the sleeve of the long sleeved t-shirt she'd grabbed from Mason's floor, Pandora extended her hand and rapped on the door loudly.

Staring down at the ground at the toes of her brand new Converse All-Stars, she kicked at the loose gravel on the makeshift path that led up to the door of the small rundown house as she waited. She couldn't believe all that had happened in the past two days. So little time to completely disassemble and rearrange everything she'd ever known.

She didn't even notice the light that suddenly came on until a dog barking threateningly startled her out of her revelry. Moments later, the door cracked open and a pair of dark brown eyes accompanied by a tousled head of straw-colored hair peeked out. The door opened completely.

"Pandora? Are you lost? What are you doing here?" Pogue asked, scrubbing his hands over his face and looking her over with a mixture of apprehension and bewilderment. "Are you...alone?" Pogue added warily, searching over her shoulder into the darkness behind her. It was like the trio reborn, with those three. The hero and the sidekick were never too far behind.

"Can I come in?" Pandora asked in a lost tone, looking every inch the drowned kitten with her hair hanging down around her face in wet clumps and the oversized shirt swamping around her as the rain continued to fall.

"Uh...yeah. Sure." Pogue replied in a confused tone, standing away from the door and dropping his arm to grant her access.

oooouoo*oooonoo*oooosooo*oooaoo*

"So, you gonna tell me what you're doing here? It sure as hell isn't because you enjoy my company...at four in the morning, no less." Pogue said conversationally as he walked into the living room and crashed on the couch.

"What happened to you?" Pandora asked curiously, changing the subject. She slowly lowered herself into the questionable looking recliner that was perpendicular to the couch.

"You're gonna have to be a little more specific, precious." Pogue retorted. "And answer my question first."

"I didn't know where else to go." Pandora said quietly, tucking her legs underneath her chin and wrapping her arms around them. "We used to be friends and then one day...wham! Almost literally a few times. What made you hate me so much?"

"You did." Pogue said frankly, folding his hands together and leaning forward onto his knees.

"Are you being serious?" Pandora asked cautiously.

"Cross my heart, princess." Pogue said seriously. "You had everything. The most awesome parents a kid could ask for that would do any and everything for you, instant friends, a personality that makes everyone love you, and you've got killer looks to boot.

"Now let's look at what I've got, shall we?" Pogue asked before she could comment. A harsh laugh escaped him before he continued. "All I had from the start was a mom that wished she never had me and never failed to remind me of the fact. I'm lucky the ungrateful bitch actually left me this rat-hole to live in when she was killed. My only friends are the ones I can keep under me and don't question my authority. I don't have a personality that invites people in, I have one that pushes people away. I don't like people, and the feeling is mutual most times. I've been alone since I was ten and I like it that way. I've been taking care of myself since I could walk and I didn't need anyone to take me in when my mom was killed right in front of me. So forgive me for being a little bitter when I realized how perfect your life was and tried to make it a little less so."

"Ugly." Pandora said uncomfortably, clearing her throat and looking at him pointedly. "You said I was hot, but you didn't contradict that with your own lack in the looks department. Why would you say it in the first place? And you _are _kind of on the lower end of the spectrum in that sense. They obviously didn't intend to send you out for undercover missions to seduce. And with your personality, who'd they pair your mother up with anyway, a nomalie?"

"That. That is what you focused on." Pogue said incredulously, leaning back on the couch and resting his arms across the back. "Although...there are those rumors about Mole..." Pogue added in a speculative murmur, his head tilting as his gaze drifted away from hers.

Pandora just shrugged one shoulder unapologetically.

"I'm all shits and giggles like that." Pandora said in a flat tone. She then looked over her shoulder and untucked her feet from underneath her gracefully and stood. "So...got anything snackable around here?"

oooaooo*ooowooooo*oooovooo*ooomo

Alec stared at the tired and forlorn figure that was once his godson as he headed for the couch and laid down facing away from them. What the hell was going on lately? He was still troubled over what had happened with Sebastian. When he found Sebastian at the party after Pandora had left, the boy was quiet and sulking around–kind of like he did himself when he'd screwed up monumentally with Max.

And the next day, for the first time ever, Alec witnessed Sebastian go berserk over a female in heat. He still had the nasty bruise under his right eye to remember the event. It had taken everyone at the meeting to contain and sedate him. And after a thorough sweep canvasing the whole of TC, they couldn't find one female–X5 or otherwise–in any stage of heat. Sebastian adamantly refused to tell them who had triggered the switch, but Alec had a faint niggling suspicion at the back of his mind as to who Sebastian was protecting. It was something he wasn't quite ready to confront yet.

The argument with Max started easily enough after they brought Sebastian home, as always, but when he glanced over at a subdued and still slightly dazed Sebastian on the couch, he saw an opportunity to divert the boy's focus.

"You see, Sebastian, this is what you need to do to get back on track with Pandora." Alec said matter-of-factly, turning his head away from his argumentative wife for a second to wink conspiratorially. Sebastian glanced up at him with a speculative eyebrow raised, rolling onto his back.

Max frowned back and forth between the two before her eyes widened in surprise when she found herself being picked up and hauled over Alec's shoulder. She pounded at his back angrily as he started walking towards their bedroom.

"Put me down, you jackass." Max tried to say in a forceful tone, but failed when she started laughing.

"And I just meant the shoulder throwing aspect. Pandora isn't having sex until she's thirty." Alec informed Sebastian over his shoulder.

Sebastian shook his head at their antics as well as to clear the cobwebs the drugs were still hanging up in his system. He was pretty sure he and Pandora weren't at that level of "working things out". He stood and walked to the door. He really wasn't in the mood for a preview of what his relationship with Pandora could be like. Besides, he kind of needed to _find _her before any sort of making up could take place.

ooomoo*ooowoo*ooouoooo*oocooooo*

"I'm getting too old for this, woman." Alec said seriously, tumbling her onto the bed and kicking the door shut with his foot.

"You must be if you're senile enough to think that my opinion has changed on this whole possessive over your woman-caveman move you keep trying to put on me." Max deadpanned, bending her elbows under her back and blowing her hair out of her face.

"Well, you _are _still here. So maybe this is something you like...you know, deep down." Alec retorted, sauntering towards her. Coaxing her knees open, he settled in on top of her and smiled down at her.

"Nah," Max said, shrugging her shoulders in a dismissive gesture. She reached up and patted his face depreciatively, her fingers tracing delicately over the bruise. "I just like your pretty face."

"Really?" Alec returned, his playful tone taking on a seductive notch. He leaned down and trailed the tip of his nose along the column of her neck before pressing a light kiss behind her right ear. "Just my face?"

"I'm not real sure about the rest yet." Max breathed out, her breath hitching when he bit at her neck in response. "I wouldn't mind if you wanted to help me reconsider..."

"Well, I hope you've got the time." Alec said against her skin, pulling at the hem of her tank top. "Because I've got a feeling this is gonna take awhile."

ooouooo*ooonoooooo*oooosooo*ooxoo

"Wow. When did I become Mr. Popular?" Pogue asked sarcastically, casting a glance over his shoulder before returning his gaze towards "Part Two" standing at his doorstep. He was wondering what was taking Pandora's other half so long. "I haven't had this many visitors in my entire _life_."

"Is Pandora here? Let me in." Sebastian asked, his tone threadbare and worn as he tried to glimpse over Pogue's head into the house. "I've looked everywhere else."

"Now I see why she came here." Pogue muttered, leaning against the door and closing it slightly. "I don't think she's up for visitors."

"So she's here." Sebastian said, pushing against the door. He glared when he met resistance. "Let me in."

"Afraid I can't do that." Pogue stated, shrugging one shoulder carelessly. "At the present, she scares me more than you do. Not to mention, she's got the home advantage in _my_ house. She's already threatened to cripple me and throw me from the premises–in pieces–five times since she's been here."

Sebastian's hand shot out and yanked Pogue through the open crack in the door.

"Guess I'll just step out for a minute, then." Pogue said casually, shutting the door behind him quietly before he continued speaking. "From what little I've learned of this situation, I don't think she wants to talk to you. Or anyone else in your little social circle you all've got going on." Pogue replied, his eyebrows rising and his lips forming a grim smile.

"Listen, just get her to come out here so I can try and talk her into coming home." Sebastian said in a frustrated tone, pushing his hair out of his face as his gaze fell to the ground.

Pogue held his hands out in surrender. It would seem this girl brought trouble his way whether he wanted it or not.

"Whatever, dude." Pogue replied in an agreeable tone. "I've been trying to kick her back out the door since I let her in. Let's see if you're the magic key." Pogue added unbelievingly as he grasped the knob and reopened the door, backing in and slamming the door shut.

Sebastian looked up at the sky for patience and shuffled from one foot the other as he waited.

"Man, you must have really screwed up with her." Pogue said, stepping back outside and closing the door moments later. He then turned back to Sebastian. "Cause I've been nothing but a real jerk to her for her whole life, and now nothing I say or do can get her to leave." Pogue finished with a rueful glare, folding his arms across his chest.

"What did she say?" Sebastian asked impatiently.

"She said...and I quote...'piss off and have a lovely day'." Pogue responded in a light tone, a fake smile accompanying the response.

"You're paraphrasing, right?" Sebastian asked skeptically, a frown forming.

"Are you kidding?" Pogue replied, a smirk quirking up his lips as he leaned against the door frame. "It doesn't get any better than this. A little love quarrel with the misunderstood hero and the under-appreciated best friend. Tragic." Pogue continued sarcastically, false sympathy oozing from every word. "Seriously. I haven't watched afternoon TV in years."

Sebastian's eyebrow twitched angrily and a snarl was on the tip of his tongue. However, he was in no shape to be fighting and forcing his way anywhere or on anyone. Breathing deep instead, he glared menacingly a few moments more before he turned and walked away.

ooowooo*ooonoooo*ooomoo*oocoo*

"Alright. That's it." Pogue stated after he watched her finish off her third bag of _his _chips, standing up purposefully and striding towards Pandora. "Time's up. Get out."

"What? No." Pandora said incredulously, shaking her head resolutely as he stood in front of her and stared down at her ominously.

"You've hidden here long enough and you wore out your welcome five minutes after you sat down. You've been moping around with your sworn enemy for the past twelve hours. Go home." Pogue explained as he yanked her upwards. She immediately began struggling.

"No! I don't wanna go back. They'll all be there waiting for me. Sure, you hate me or whatever, but at least you're honest about it." Pandora argued frantically, her eyes shining with unshed tears.

"Jeez, look at yourself. Quit whining about the first and only little snag in your perfect life. Whatever it is they all did to you, they're willing to do whatever to make it better. They'll do anything you tell them to do because of that nagging little conscience you all insist upon having. Tell them to stand on their heads and walk only on their hands for two days or to shower with vinegar and wash their hair with Veet. Or just tell them to stop nagging you and pretend that whatever it is that happened didn't happen. Look, I don't care, just as long as you're _not_ here anymore. Got it?"

Pandora huffed out a deep breath through her mouth and frowned at him but let him lead her to the door. As he tried to push her out of the door, she put her hands out and dragged her heels.

"Wait." Pandora said suddenly, looking at him over her shoulder.

"Oh my God! What now?" Pogue asked in an exasperated tone, still trying to push her.

"Thanks. I kind of needed all that." Pandora said, smiling a small smile briefly. She then pointed her finger over her shoulder in his face with a firm expression. "And no more pushing. Seriously. I totally hate that."

"Good God, just go already!" Pogue said, giving her a gentle final shove out the door and shutting it behind her, ducking his head to hide the smile that crept onto his face unbidden. He might have actually liked her if she didn't already have the world at her pedestaled feet.

ooosoooooo*ooonoocooo*ooozoomooo

I had to put a little happiness in this chapter and besides, I haven't really written much for Max and Alec lately. And if there's any confusion about why they're so busy getting it on that they don't even notice their daughter's missing, it's because they think she's still at Mason's. They don't know about the heat and her running away. Also, don't fret, I did not just introduce another love interest for Pandora. Pogue is just a barely sociable acquaintance. He's the same Pogue from way back in Yellow that was picking on Pandora. I needed someone for her to run to as well as someone to make her go back home and like I said at the beginning, I just watched Sky High a little while ago and I totally love Steven Strait's character in that movie. It was like a light bulb lighting up in my head. Anyway...until next time...


	12. Amethyst

Author's Note: I'm sort of running out of colors, here. Violet is kind of the end of the spectrum. I'll probably tack on a few more neutral and inbetween colors to bring it full circle and then that's it. Let's see if I can make it that far without totally lose my mind, lol!

Music Suggestions: 'Sophomore slump or comeback of the year' by Fall Out Boy, 'My happy ending' by Avril Lavigne, 'Can't take it' by All-American Rejects, 'Perfect' by Burn Season.

Disclaimer: Oh, for goodness sake! NO! I _still_ don't own Dark Angel, even after all this time.

Amethyst

It kind of figured that Bella would be the first person Pandora would run into when she finally made her way home that evening. Sure, it was the choice between three different incomprehensibly uncomfortable conversations, but it was the one with her only real friend that was a girl that would hurt the most.

Bella gracefully unfolded her long legs and rose from the overstuffed easy chair when Pandora eased her way through the crack in the door she'd created to be as quiet as possible.

Pandora almost groaned at the unfairness of it all. Sebastian wasn't seeking her out and Mason...well, she was trying to not think about how that conversation would play out. So why couldn't Bella give her at least a few days of space to compartmentalize her feelings so deep she couldn't feel them anymore? Bella did well enough at sussing out people's emotions, why couldn't she do that now and leave her alone? Pandora frowned and stalked past Bella towards her room.

"Would you just talk to me?" Bella pleaded, stopping Pandora by wrapping one hand around her forearm.

Pandora snatched her arm out of Bella's grasp angrily.

"I will talk when I'm damn well ready to talk." Pandora hissed in an incensed tone. "And that won't be any time soon. So let's just pretend nothing happened until then okay?" Pandora finished in an overly cheerful tone.

Bella nodded her assent, defeat slumping her shoulders when Pandora turned her back on her best girl friend and left the room.

ooovoooxo*ooooaooo*oooeoorooo*ooozoo

Bella surprised Mason as she sat down next to him in his kitchen the following morning and leaned her head against one hand on the counter as she waited for him to speak. If she wasn't going to get anything out of Pandora, perhaps Mason could shed some actual light on the situation...one of them anyway. She could sense that something had happened between them as well. Her "uncomfortable" meter was spiking off the charts, almost the same feeling that radiated off of Pandora when she'd encountered her earlier before she escaped into her bedroom.

Of course, it was just an added bonus that she got to see how absolutely adorable he looked first thing in the morning. All bed ruffled and pajama clad, she could almost imagine what it'd feel like waking up next to him. She envied Pandora that much, being on the kind of level with a guy that you could sleep in the same bed and not worry about the sexual implications that could arise.

Seeing that he needed a little provocation, she started the line of questioning that she knew was troubling him.

"So, what did _you_ screw up?" Bella asked curiously.

"Nothing." Mason answered evasively, mimicking her pose. He then continued reluctantly, almost guiltily with, "With Pandora. What about you?"

"Nothing." Bella echoed, recognizing and transforming 'nothing' into their codeword for 'sex'. "With Sebastian."

"Oh." Mason said shortly, a mixture of surprise and realization. "It was just the one night with us. You?"

"Oh, it was definitely more than one night." Bella replied, bitterness edging her words.

"Ouch." Mason said sympathetically. "No wonder she's been giving us all the evil eye. What'd you think she's gonna do?"

"Nothing. She isn't going to do anything." Bella said sadly, relaying the message that Pandora had forced upon her. This couldn't end well.

oooonooooo*ooozoo*oouoo*oooeoorooo*

It had been over a year since she slept with Mason. And while things hadn't been necessarily comfortable, per se, they got along pretty much as well as before. Like nothing at all had transpired. Even though both knew damn well that it had. It _had_ been her first time, after all. How could she?

In addition, even though he wasn't transgenic and she didn't know much of anything about sex, it hadn't sucked. It had actually been rather fantastic. In turn, that made her kind of resent him. Weren't first times supposed to be bad and regretful? Now she knew what it could be like with Mason, and it made her curious as to what repeated performances would build up to.

Of course, it's not as if she had any firsthand experience with another transgenic to contradict the quality of sex with an ordinary. In her mind, though, she had plenty of secondhand experience. She could thank Bella and Bastian for that. It had been the same amount of time that she found out the hard way what it was like to see your best girl friend and the man you could be falling for trying to suck each others brains out. She thought she handled the situation well enough thus far. Everyone was ignoring the fact they'd all paired off and slept with one another.

Yep, it was a fucked up web of lies she had them all spinning.

Depending on how one looked at it, her second heat was the tension breaker that neutralized her whole perspective on things.

Thankfully, this time, she hadn't been alone. She'd been sitting in on the weekly meeting, her mother to her right, Sebastian and her dad directly across from her. She'd just been twiddling her thumbs, practically bored out of her mind, when she sensed a change in Sebastian. Her head snapped up to see him staring at her intently, a dark look descending in his eyes. She heard her mom's name spoken warningly. Apparently, her dad had been the one to sound the alarm, to snap her transfixed gaze over to her mother as Max stopped talking abruptly and rose from her chair.

Yanking Pandora up by the arm almost roughly, Max spoke through clenched teeth and a forced happy cheerfulness, "Time to go, Pandora."

"But..." Pandora trailed off beseechingly, her gaze returning to Bastian's, confused. His knuckles were turning white from his clutching the arms of his chair so hard.

It actually kind of turned her on, but that made no sense at all.

"Say goodbye, Pandora." Max said furtively as she dragged Pandora from the room.

"Bye." Pandora said feebly, a confused frown crossing her features as the door shut in front of her. What the hell was going on?

"Mom, what the hell...?" Pandora began to ask until Max cut her off.

"Heat." Max inserted simply.

Pandora's mouth snapped shut. She was? It didn't feel like she was.

"You mean me, right?" Pandora asked in a bemused tone as Max continued to drag her along. Max stopped suddenly, turning to face her daughter, her confusion matching her daughter's.

"You're not feelin' it?" Max asked.

"Not exactly." Pandora replied in an unsure tone, now doubting herself. " I'm not feeling like last time..." Pandora continued before snapping her mouth shut. She'd never told anyone about that. About her first heat.

"This has happened before." Max said angrily, the question sounding more like a statement. She began dragging Pandora along again towards their apartment. Alec and the boys would just have to sleep somewhere else for the time being.

"Just once." Pandora answered weakly in defense.

"We figured _someone_ went into heat that day, it was the only way Sebastian would go off like he did. We never could figure out who it was and he refused to tell us. It was you, wasn't it?" Max said, trying to control her temper.

"I didn't know. I couldn't stop it..." Pandora said, trailing off as her voice cracked, on the verge of tears as she began to confess to her mother. She'd always wanted to, but she'd held back, too ashamed by what she'd done.

"Shh, sweet. It'll be alright." Max said complacently, noting the hitch in her daughter's tone and understanding completely. How could she be so judgmental? She had her own list of mistakes, many of which she hoped Pandora never had to live with. "We'll talk about it when we get home, alright?"

Pandora nodded mutely, hanging her head and staring at the ground the rest of the way to hide the tears.

"It was a good thing your father was paying attention for once." Max spoke in a glib tone, trying to lighten the mood.

"Dad picked up on it?" Pandora asked, sniffling quietly, the cold and frozen February air not helping any.

"No." Max answered as they walked into the apartment building. Walking up to the second floor, she continued. "Your dad saw Sebastian. He told me about how he acted the last time. Your dad, or any other X for that matter, hadn't yet sensed anything."

"How do you know that?" Pandora quipped curiously.

"How many X5 males did we have to fight off on the way here?" Max returned as a response, looking at her daughter over her shoulder blithely as she unlocked the door.

"Oh." Pandora muttered, connecting the dots. She hadn't really been paying that much attention.

ooonooo*ooomooooo*oooso*ooovooo

"Why am I not good enough?" Sebastian asked in a tired tone, slumping against the steel chair that he was shackled to. The sedative was beginning to kick in.

Alec looked down at Sebastian, understanding flooding his gaze at Sebastian's defeated posture and words. He knew what that was like, being both restrained against his will as well as feeling insufficient to gain the affection of the woman he was in love with. He knelt down beside Sebastian, placing one hand on his forearm in a consoling fashion as Sebastian continued speaking.

"I'm never the man that's good enough to stand by indefinitely. I'm not allowed to make mistakes or receive any sort of leeway when I do. I'm not any less human than an ordinary, so why am I held to higher standards?" Sebastian paused and looked up at the decrepit ceiling, collecting his thoughts before he gave too much away. He knew Pandora slept with someone during her first heat, he'd felt the release in pheromones. It could have been anyone. From what Max had told him of the subject, inhibitions and prejudices went out the window. For all he knew, she could have had sex with some random homeless guy in a dark alley. He still couldn't forgive himself for not being there for her like he'd been for Bella. Both in the protective shoulder to lean on sense as well as the naked physical sense. "I'm just the fuck buddy. No, wait. In the case I'm referring to, I'm not even good enough for that. Meet my _friend_, Bastian." Sebastian finished bitterly, spitting out the last sentence distastefully.

"Bastian, look at me." Alec said, commanding Sebastian's gaze up to his. Alec's expression was fierce and spoke volumes of experience and regrets. He didn't know who the first woman was, but he had a strong feeling his daughter was the second. "I know...I know what it's like to love a woman that isn't ready for that love. I love you like a son and wish I had some choice words of wisdom to make it all better. Unfortunately, all I've got is this: give it time. And when you feel like you've given everything you can, give her some more, because that's all we _can_ do. Lord knows how much they don't like it when we bring our unsettling feelings and mistakes to them before they're ready to accept them."

oooxoo*ooovoooo*ooosoo*ooouoooo

The three days that followed that first precursory warning day were rough. At the end of the first day, her mother had called in Gem, her daughter Eve, and Bella over for reinforcements. When Pandora met Bella's gaze that day, she finally accepted why Bella had done what she'd done. She didn't necessarily forgive her completely, but she understood. It was a scary thought, completely losing her inhibitions. What if she didn't have all the support she did now? What if she were miles from home, in unfamiliar territory, with no one but strange men surrounding her? No wonder Bella had turned to Sebastian as she had. He was loyal, trustworthy, and probably best of all, likely to not make you feel like trash the next morning.

All she could think about was Sebastian. That's how her second heat was different from the first. Once the heat began to really kick in, all she could think about was getting him naked. What woman wouldn't want that dependable, rock-solid body beneath her? And living with him as an adopted brother for almost fifteen years did have its advantages.

Unfortunately, like she just mentioned, it was a very, _very_ difficult three days. As it turned out, it was a _lot_ harder to make it through a heat without the sexual aspect of it.

When she was finally deemed "sociable", Sebastian was the first person she sought out. She had questions that needed answers. How had he known, how did he sense it when no one, not even she herself, did?

She found him right where her father had told her he'd be, bound down to a chair with a dazed look in his eyes.

Tears started to form, unbidden, behind her eyes and a sob escaped her throat. Was all of this _really_ necessary? She didn't see them doing this kind of thing with all the other guys. How often did this happen without anyone realizing?

"It's over." Sebastian stated slowly, having looked up at her when she gasped.

"I am so, so, _so_ very sorry, Bastian." Pandora said sadly, pleading for his forgiveness as she began to tear at the restraints holding him.

"It's not your fault." Sebastian said quietly, shaking his head back and forth slightly in emphasis.

"Yeah, right." Pandora countered in a clipped, disbelieving tone, frustrated with herself and her body.

"Could you do me one favor?" Sebastian asked lightly as he rubbed at his chafed wrists once she got them free, leaning his arms on his knees.

"Sure. Anything." Pandora said in a distracted tone, answering automatically.

"Don't go into heat anymore." Sebastian said, only half joking.

"Yeah, I'll work on that." Pandora replied dryly, the left side of her mouth quirking up sardonically. She'd just remembered the date: February 18th. "By the way, happy birthday, Bastian."

And just like that, almost all was right with her world once again. Almost.

oooxoo*ooouooo*oooaoo*ooowooo

Yeah, I'm gonna end it like that. We still have one more issue to resolve, don't we? Revealing the identity of Pandora's first heat partner. And maybe, just maybe, I might explain just how it is Pandora's heat affects Sebastian? Yep, and that means more drama for everyone! It's not over yet. Anyway, not that I've been very good with including the colors in the chapters previous, but though I didn't directly mention one in this chapter, it's alluded to by February being Sebastian's birthday month. That would make his birthstone, yeah, you guessed it, amethyst. Random thought that refused to not be written. Until next time...


	13. Lavender

**Author's note**: Obviously, I've moved into a different time realm than everybody else, because everytime I look up and think it's only been about a week, it's been over a month. It's driving me crazy and yet, my motivating skills are dormant. I need to adopt some motivation for my motivation. (That made more sense in my head.) It probably doesn't seem like it with all the time between updates, but I _am_ trying. I'm just sort of running on empty at the present. But, I will never give up, and I will never surrender! (I know with my faulty updating, this probably isn't as much fun to all of you as it is to me, but what movie did I just quote from? Hint: Tim Allen and Sigourney Weaver.)

**Music suggestions**: 'Something different' by Jagstar, 'Seven hours' by Miranda Lee Richards, Missing you' by Jem, 'Something about you' by Boston.

**Disclaimer**: Don't own Dark Angel or the music rights. Just my handful of downtrodden, melodramatic band of original characters.

Lavender

"I've always wondered," Pandora began, standing across from Sebastian as she sipped from the punch he'd just handed to her. Sebastian stared at her patiently as she paused. It never boded well when she started a conversation like that. "What's it like on your side of a heat?"

"Yeah, that isn't a completely random, not to mention inappropriate, question to be asking in a room full of enhanced hearing people." Sebastian said, frowning at her blasé attitude about the subject of the question she'd just asked. Wasn't that more suited to a bedroom, _alone_, type of chat?

Not that they ever had any of those anymore. Trust still wasn't much of a friend of theirs. And she hadn't had a nightmare in months. Not that that was a bad thing, but it was the only way he ever got into her bed.

"So?" Pandora challenged, looking at him pointedly. "The music's loud and no one's paying attention to our hushed, private conversation. Besides, it's not like it's a _personal_ personal question. All the men around here are affected by a female's heat. Well, more or less. I just want to know what it's all about from your point of view. It's different with you."

Sebastian closed his eyes and sighed impatiently. When Pandora had a question, she asked it. She couldn't have held off for one day. She just had to ask it at his belated birthday party.

"Alec said it was different back at Manticore." Sebastian began as he leaned against the wall behind him. "The guys were always getting into fights and never seemed to settle down with one female. It was more or less a pissing contest and the winner was that female's mate of the week. It was a mess until they designed a drug to suppress the heat.

"Now most of our parents' generation have settled down and paired off so heats aren't such a problem anymore. Our generation, on the other hand, is a little different. Most males still go nuts when one of you flares up. But we don't fight each other to the death over it. From the tests over the years by our own science division, only certain traits attract a particular group of males. It's like each female has her own unique set of pheromones and not every male is attracted to that call. While you girls may not have any control, most guys do. Nowadays, if more than one male finds a female in heat, it's up to her to decide. And when she makes her choice, that is that. No bloodshed." Sebastian concluded, shrugging one shoulder.

"That doesn't explain the guys that aren't affected at all." Pandora stated after a moment, processing the information he'd just given to her. "It doesn't explain you."

Sebastian looked down at the floor and scratched the back of his neck nervously.

"That's because no one really knows. It's probably tied into the genetic thing I was just talking about. Most guys around here probably have a broad spectrum makeup, and are attracted to more than half of the pheromone producing females in TC. Think of it in ice cream flavors. Most men will eat any flavor you set in front of them. But then there will be one guy that will only eat rocky road or butter pecan. And then another that will only accept chocolate. Maybe there's only one girl out there with the correct genetic pheromone composition and he just hasn't found it yet. Take me, for instance. I didn't even think I was susceptible until last year. Until you.

"I couldn't see straight, the urge was so overpowering. I didn't even know where you were or what you were doing. But I knew...I sensed it, and I would have found you. I don't even remember starting to move. Or putting two other X's in the hospital and giving your dad a black eye. It was like my body switched drives into, well, reproductive mode I guess you could say." Sebastian finished, standing up from the wall, closer to Pandora. He closed the distance between them, running his thumb along her jawline as he stared down at her openly.

Pandora gulped and goosebumps rose on her skin.

"So you only react to my heat." Pandora stated matter-of-factly. "In an uncontrollable way like I do."

The door to the command center opened, letting in a blast of chilled air and snow preceding the woman that had opened it. The party's inhabitants closest to the door looked up curiously at the intrusion. Everyone that was everyone in TC was already there. Even Pogue was sitting at the makeshift bar in the corner having a heated discussion with Mole.

Sure, strangers appeared on occasion, but there was a 50/50 chance that visitor _didn't_ have good intentions. Especially with Manticore still alive and swinging.

The cloaked figure remained in the shadows clinging to the poorly lit entryway. She searched the crowd furtively, obviously looking for someone. Sighting the messy black mop of hair that he hadn't changed since he was old enough to have a say in his hairstyle, a haunting smile graced her lips. She shook her head disapprovingly and took a couple steps forward. At this point, most of the transgenics stopped dancing and stared at the mysterious figure with trepidation.

"What's going on?" Pandora asked curiously, turning away from her conversation with Sebastian and stretching her neck to try and see over the crowd. Sebastian dropped the hand that had been touching her face with a weary sigh and turned around to face the entryway as well.

It was then that the stranger's scent hit him. Despite the years and the myriad of other scents in the crowded room, he knew her. And she should be dead. He let his nose lead him away from Pandora's confused glance and towards the front of the room. Pandora trailed along closely behind him.

Alec and Max had already made their way to the front. Pandora soon arrived next to her parents and stood next to her mom. Sebastian stood defensively off to Pandora's right, eyes narrowed on the shadowy figure standing in the hallway. Something wasn't right. It was impossible to resurrect a dead woman, wasn't it?

"Who are you?" Alec asked authoritatively, standing slightly in front of Max and Pandora.

The figure stepped from the shadows in the entryway, cloaked by a lavender hooded tunic. Her face was turned downwards, but still more than a few eyes widened in surprise and recognition. Pandora edged her way towards Sebastian, touching his arm supportively when she saw his shoulders tense up.

"Is that who I _think_ it is?" Pandora asked quietly out of the corner of her mouth, her eyes not leaving the woman before them.

Sebastian nodded numbly as the woman pushed the hood back with both hands and raised her face to the crowd.

"Hello, Sebastian." Cece said demurely, a gentle smile lighting up her face becomingly.

A single tear trickled down his face as he stepped forward hesitantly.

"Mom?" Sebastian asked in a broken tone.

ooosoo*ooomoooo*ooouoo*ooozooo*

Max lay in bed with Alec, her tucked underneath his right arm as they discussed Cece's sudden returning and the effect it might have on Sebastian.

"After all this time...to know that she was still alive out there. What it must have been like, everyone believing you're dead. No one looking for you, not even trying. Is that what she wanted? To be back at Manticore and suffer?" Max mused, picking at the front of Alec's shirt absentmindedly.

"She was thinking of Sebastian." Alec supplied, taking a hypothetical approach to Cece's motives. "They didn't know she had a kid. Back then it was still snatch and grab. And you may or may not live to see another day, depending on who was lucky enough to discover your true identity. Of course, there's no telling which is worse: going back to Manticore...or death. You'd still fight to get away if you could, but what if they want you to lead them to a bigger catch? She didn't know their intentions, what they might do if they followed her home. What parent wants that life for their child?" Alec finished speculatively, staring at the wall as he pictured Pandora or the twins back where he'd once been. Being re-indoctrinated, being drilled into the ground to be made into better soldiers, sending them out to kill, more often than not, innocent people...

"But what if Cece's no longer _Cece_?" Max asked suspiciously, putting stress on and air quoting the second 'Cece'. "What if after everything they did to her, God knows they've put the whole psy ops arsenal on her at least once before she escaped, she's here for vengeance or retribution? What if she's still _Manticore _and they sent her in for recon?" Max speculated, lowering her voice to a harsh whisper.

"We don't know." Alec answered quietly, smoothing back her hair from her forehead and leaning down to place a kiss on the frown that had formed there. "We let Sebastian decide."

"As if that poor boy doesn't already have a lot on his mind." Max said sadly, placing her chin on his chest to look up at him. "Did you hear that conversation Pandora put him through at the party? Like he doesn't already feel guilty enough that he has no control around her heats. I think she's being too hard on him. I mean, it's been almost two years and things still haven't completely settled between them. I know she's our daughter, but she should know by now that transgenic or not, your half of the species isn't perfect. Even _I _didn't hold a grudge against you for this long." Max complained with a smile, reaching across with one hand and linking it with his.

"I honestly can't even begin to tell you what went down. You know how teenagers are, they think we're too old and that we've forgotten all about what it's like to be their age. Like we won't understand the mistakes they may or may not have made. If they only knew about half the mistakes you or I made long before they were born..." Alec replied, trailing off as he got lost in memories.

Max pulled herself up and lined her gaze up with Alec's for a moment before leaning down and kissing him soundly.

"It doesn't help anyone to get lost in bad memories." Max said when she pulled away. "I think we've both learned that lesson a long time ago. Now back to our conversation. I know what it's like to be stubborn and that it's best for everyone to give us time, but why is Sebastian letting her treat him like this? In the past, he never let her sulk around for too long before he forced her into patching things back together."

"You mean you don't see it?" Alec asked in a knowing tone. He was wondering if he'd ever have this conversation with Max. "But then you wouldn't, would you? You've never been on that end of the relationship."

Max looked at him with a confused expression.

"I don't understand." Max said.

"He's in love." Alec answered quietly, staring at her intently. "He's in love with a woman that he thinks he can't have...a woman he thinks he doesn't deserve."

"But I thought that he and Pandora were already together. Lord knows they used to spend every waking hour together since birth. I just thought they were respecting us as their parents and not comfortable being overly affectionate in our presence. What other woman in the world would he think he was less deserving of?" Max asked, the frown returning as she fumed. "I mean, if there were any man deserving of our daughter, it would be him. We practically raised him ourselves so we'd know if something wasn't right with him. Is that why she's being so resentful? Is he thinking of leaving her for another girl? He had better damn well _not_ be!" Max bit out angrily, pulling out of Alec's embrace and sitting up, ready to tear her adopted child a new one. She didn't care if he was almost twice her size now.

"Whoa there, Max. Just downshift for a minute." Alec coaxed, pulling her back down against his chest with a light chuckle. "First off, no, they're not together. They're still in the denial stage. You remember that stage, don't you?" Alec teased, Max smacking his chest half-heartedly. "I meant he might be in love with her and he's waiting for her because he thinks it's best. Then there's Mason and Bella. Something happened. Lines were crossed, misconceptions were made, there's no telling what happened. It's all revolving around Pandora and she doesn't know how to handle it yet. I can tell when my daughter's upset about something and trying to figure it out on her own. But she hides her turmoil well...kind of like someone else I know." Alec finished, nudging her lightly with his elbow.

"So just stay out of this. I know that's hard considering it's our firstborn here, but this is something she needs to work out on her own. It's the way she wants it." Alec concluded, the reluctance hidden in his tone peeking through.

"Why is our little girl doomed to repeat our life and have to make the same choices?" Max queried in a defeated tone.

"I don't know, Maxie. That's a question only God and OC can answer." Alec replied, leaning his chin on top of her head and sighing wearily.

oooaooo*oooxoooo*ooovooo*ooonoo

So...anyone surprised by my bringing Cece back? I know I was when I first considered it. But then remember, I never said that she was dead for sure, I just said she disappeared off the face of the earth. Also, I finally gave you a long overdue explanation on the whole heat cycle angle I've taken in this story! I hope it makes sense. Yet another thought: I've realized that I've been trying less and less to work the color into the chapter, but as I was looking at different possibilities for this chapter, one of the meanings of lavender is calming tempers. I'm thinking that Cece is sort of the calming influence on everybody and brings resolution in her wake. And before I conclude this note, the movie was Galaxy Quest. Wow, I haven't seen that movie in forever, but I'm always using that quote. Anyway... Until next time...


	14. Lilac

**Author's note**: This chapter is probably one of the fluffiest I've written. I can't remember what inspired the flower fascination, but once it happened, I couldn't help but use the information I gathered into one of my stories. And Cece makes another appearance.

**Music suggestions**: 'Step right up' by The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus, 'Collapsed' by Aly and AJ, '21 guns' by Green Day.

**Disclaimer**: Still don't own anything. Not Dark Angel, or anything else I may write for.

Lilac

When Alec shuffled out of the bedroom the next morning, he found Sebastian slouched over on the sofa, asleep. It was closer to Pandora's room than his own, with the twins having the room beside hers. Alec had lost track of how many times he'd found Sebastian like this, as if being that much closer would allow him to be the first to hear of any distress from her. The first few times, it was endearing. Now it was kind of sad.

It was time for a change.

Alec purposefully walked over to the couch and leaned down on the sofa arm closest to Sebastian. Luckily, second generations weren't as violent to wake up with a little physical contact. He pulled the arm that was propping up Sebastian's head out from underneath him. Sebastian woke up with a start just before his head made contact the the sofa arm.

"Wake up Sebastian." Alec said, stepping back and regarding Sebastian with a calculating eye. His stance at 'parade rest' with his hands clasped behind his back.

"Jeez, Alec. What? What's going on?" Sebastian asked, looking around disoriented as he sat up.

"I don't really care what happened between you and my daughter that has her _still_ pissed at you." Alec said cooly, staring down at Sebastian steadily and disregarding Sebastian's questions. "And I don't care how many times you've already apologized and tried to patch things up. Fix this. There will be no more of this sleeping on the sofa business. No man with any self-respect lets a woman stay mad at him for more than a month. You either make things better or break it off. Since I know that you two weren't together to begin with, you've got some patching up to do. Try flowers. Max always liked orchids. Now go. What are you still doing here?" Alec finished with a impatient question, motioning towards the door.

"O-okay..." Sebastian replied, standing up and walking towards the door. Regarding Alec with a weirded out expression as he opened the door, he scrubbed a hand through his shaggy hair before he continued out the door with the most confused expression on his face.

Max walked out of the kitchen as the door shut. She looked over at Alec and shook her head.

"What did you make him do?" Max asked wearily with a hand on her hip.

"He's going to get flowers for Pandora and apologize right." Alec said proudly. The look on his face clearly said that someone should pat him on the back for his ingenious idea.

Max looked at him dryly.

"What flower did you tell him to get?" Max asked slowly, assessing just how bad this scenario could turn out.

"What does it matter? Girls like all flowers, don't they?" Alec asked in a clueless tone, brushing the question off.

"To a girl who knows her flowers, it matters a lot." Max explained, her tone turning patronizing. "And Joshua has been teaching her all sorts of things to be a proper artist since birth practically. And what has Pandora been practicing lately?"

"Oh." Alec retorted flatly, realization dawning. He then perked up. "Orchid. I told him orchids. That's good, right?"

"Well, I suppose it could have been a lot worse. You could have picked one that said deception or cruelty." Max said casually, whipping at him with the dishtowel in her hand before returning to the dishes in the kitchen.

"Wait! Which ones would that have been?" Alec said hurriedly, chasing after her. "I almost said daisies!"

oooooooooco*oooooooooro*ooooowoooo

"Son, what are you doing?" Cece asked, falling into line with him as he made his way to the TC boundary gate.

"I have to get something that we don't have here." Sebastian answered vaguely, not looking at her.

"Come on, Sebastian." Cece said in a chastising tone, touching his nose lightly with her index finger. "Tell your mother where you're going. I might be able to come along and help."

Sebastian stopped with a resigned sigh and faced his mom.

"I'm going to get orchids for Pandora. Alec said I should get her flowers and try apologizing. Again." Sebastian explained, ducking his head uncomfortably.

"Oh no, no."Cece said, waving her hands around disapprovingly. "Not orchids. Not if you're trying to apologize. Orchids emphasize love and beauty. More like an anniversary or birthday like occasion. I don't know...perhaps hyacinths or violets maybe? My flower meanings are a little rusty. Your father brought me a lily of the valley on our first date. It was so beautiful." Cece trailed off whimsically, her eyes clouding over with memories.

Sebastian cleared his throat and made to start walking again. After a few steps, he turned slightly to see his mom standing in the same spot and looking after him longingly. He scratched the back of his head nervously before holding his hand out to her.

"Would you come with me? I could use the support." Sebastian asked gently.

Cece's eyes lit up brightly and she almost skipped the few steps remaining between them to his side.

"Why, I'd love to." Cece said happily, bending his arm to loop hers through his and started walking towards the gate.

ooooooooxo*oooooooeoo*ooovooooooooo

"Joshua!" Cece exclaimed when she entered the flower shop. She closed the distance between him and wrapped him up in a big hug just as Sebastian walked through the entrance.

"Cece!" Joshua answered with just as much enthusiasm, spinning her around once before putting her back down. He may have not known her very well, but Sebastian had a parent once again. He wished _his _father would come back like Cece had.

"What are you doing here?" he asked as Sebastian came to stand behind his mother with a small smile.

"Could say the same for you." Sebastian retorted with a grin, gesturing to the assortment of different flowers resting in his right hand.

"For next art class." Joshua answered, holding each flower up in a fanned out fashion in front of his face. "Purple flowers and accents. Class is tomorrow. Pandora is to show up early to help set up. Be sure she remember this time." Joshua finished as sternly as he could muster, bringing the flowers back down.

"Yeah. Right." Sebastian replied in a distracted tone, one of the flowers in Joshua's hand catching his eye. "Hey, Josh. What's that one?" he asked, pointing to a sprig of tiny purple flowers clustered on one branch.

"Lilac." Joshua answered in his teaching tone, holding it out to Sebastian.

Sebastian held it up before his eyes, wondering why the flower called to him as it did. There really wasn't much all that spectacular about it. It wasn't like the iris or orchid that Joshua also held in his hand. He didn't even know what meaning it held. But it was what he was getting for Pandora.

"Where can I find more of these?" Sebastian asked, handing the spig in his hand back to Joshua. Joshua took it back and gestured to the back corner. Sebastian took off without so much as a goodbye. Joshua looked to Cece with a questioning expression.

"It's for a girl." Cece replied in a dreamy tone, answering the unvoiced question lurking in Joshua's eyes.

"Oh. Good choice for Pandora. It will mean a lot coming from him." Joshua said, his gaze following Sebastian.

"Why? What does it mean?" Cece asked.

"First love." Joshua replied.

Cece nodded her head understandingly. Joshua handed her the branch of lilacs. Cece looked at him with a confused frown.

"For Biggs?" Joshua answered quietly, the reply slightly questioning. He hadn't had the chance to know him. He had barely even met Biggs.

Cece looked down at the cluster of purple tiny flowers as her vision blurred with unshed tears. She nodded her head again.

"Thanks Joshua." Cece whispered, touching the tiny flowers gently with her free hand.

ooooooooaoo*ooooooooxo*ooooooonoooo

"Sebastian, what are you doing?" Pandora queried, slightly amused by the nervous energy almost radiating from the always cool and collected Sebastian before her. What was he up to?

"Here. I brought you something." Sebastian said, pulling the tiny bouquet tied with a simple white ribbon from behind his back.

Pandora smiled and her eyes lit up at the bundle of tiny, purple flowers. Folding down the corner of the page in the book she was reading, she closed it and laid it on the table beside the chair. Keeping the jittery happiness that was threatening to bubble over in the form of jumping up and down and squealing, Pandora rose slowly from the chair and came to stand before Sebastian.

Extending one arm, she held her hand open and waited. Sebastian gently placed his free hand around the extended wrist, holding onto it as he set the bouquet in her hand and closed her fingers around it securely. Pandora looked from the bouquet, up to him expectantly.

Even though he kind of felt like he was making an ass of himself, Sebastian took a deep breath and spoke.

"I know I've said this, like, a million times...but I'm sorry. For everything. For hooking up with Bella for so long without telling you, to not being able to stay sane during your heats. I'll even apologize for whatever is wrong with you and Mason if you want me to." Sebastian said seriously, a crooked smile on his lips.

"That won't be necessary, trust me." Pandora said in reply to the last apology. She'd screwed herself over on that one, regardless of how she had laid some of the blame on him indirectly in the beginning. She touched the tiny flowers gingerly with one finger. "Why did you bring me lilacs?" Pandora asked curiously, her eyebrows scrunching in thought. He couldn't have known what they represented. He had no reason to.

"They made me think of you." Sebastian mumbled as he dropped his gaze to the floor. There was definitely too many X chromosomes surrounding him, and not enough Y's. That was the only reason he could come up with as to why he was saying such girly-sounding things.

"Thank you." Pandora said genuinely, motioning for him to lean down closer. "Lean down a little, would you?" Pandora asked when he looked at her warily.

"Why?" Sebastian asked skeptically, his eyes narrowed.

"Because I was gonna give you a kiss, Bastian." Pandora stated, rolling her eyes and a smile tugging at her lips. "But if you're _that_ adverse to it..." Pandora shrugged indifferently.

"Oh. Well, why didn't you say so?" Sebastian said in a relieved tone, sinking down so they were face to face. He looked at her expectantly, like a little boy on Christmas morning knowing he got exactly what he wanted.

Shaking her head, she reached out and turned his head to one side by the chin. Stepping forward slightly, she pressed her lips lightly against his right cheek.

She stepped back to her original position and a bark of laughter escaped her lips at his crestfallen face. He looked as if he'd have been less disappointed if she'd kicked him in the shin. Moving her hand from his chin to his cheek, she patted the same place she'd just kissed him. A fake pitying expression settled on her face.

"Don't look so disappointed, Bastian. You should know I don't kiss on the mouth before the first date." Pandora said in a chastising tone, as if chagrined that he could have forgotten such a detail. The crooked smile that resembled his earlier one detracted from the seriousness of her words.

Turning on her heel, Pandora headed for the kitchen to find something to put her flowers in. Sebastian snapped out of his trance a few moments later and jogged after her eagerly.

"So what are your plans for tonight?" Sebastian called after her. He had some lost time to make up for, and the sooner they got started, the better.

ooooooooowoo*oooooooovoo*ooooomoooo

**A/N**: It was pretty late in the game that I realized I hadn't given the new generation anything to do, career wise. Pretty much everyone except Mason is old enough to start going out in the world and make a living for themselves. I've never worked it into the story before this chapter, but I've got Pandora following in Joshua's footsteps. I've got nothing for Sebastian or Pogue or any of my other original characters. Suggestions would be nice. And I _still_ need to get Mason resolved. Yes there will be a blowout scene where everyone will find out everything. I just can't seem to find a direct path towards that destination. Ugh! Why can't I be a good little, regular updater anymore like I used to be? I'm not _that _old and forgetful! Well...I shouldn't be, anyway. Until next time...


	15. Periwinkle

**Author's note**: It's been awhile, hasn't it? I'll not mention just how long it's been since Lilac. I can't believe how far I've come with this story. I originally hadn't intended more than eight chapters, and look at where we are now! For those that have taken a chance on me and are still reading this, and to those of you that have stumbled across this by accident recently and decided it was a good read, I thank you all. The end is near, my friends. For real, this time! I've got another chapter outlined after this, and I intend to end on a neutral color, like maybe grey or black. For sure, though, no more than two after this one. Oh, and I may have borrowed an idea from Hitch and, yes, an idea from The Blue Lagoon. The latter I hadn't even realized until I finished writing the scene.

**Music suggestions**: 'It could be you' by Alexz Johnson, 'It's not my time' by Three Doors Down, 'Cold' by Crossfade, 'Use somebody' by Kings of Leon.

**Disclaimer**: Yeah, I'm gonna be lazy with one and say, look back at all previous chapters.

Periwinkle

"Sebastian! Stop!" Pandora exclaimed around peals of bright and boisterous laughter. Yet his merciless digging into the space between her second and third ribs didn't cease. Of course the man would exploit her only ticklish weakness. He had even before they started dating.

It was one of few ways to bring her around from being..."unreasonable". At least, that's what she's deduced over the years.

On the other hand, she may have given him reason to resort to desperate measures. She may have been purposefully holding out on him. She wasn't being a tease out of spite, she was just waiting for the perfect moment to kiss him. She'd know it when she felt it. She didn't want to rush any aspect of this new relationship thing with Sebastian.

Unfortunately, men tend to not be so patient and Sebastian was even less so. He wasn't necessarily pushing for anything, but at the same time, they'd crossed a few friendship lines and he wanted to let people know about those changes. One wouldn't think that her Bastian would be pro-PDA, but apparently, he was. And he was starting to push the matter in subtle, discreet ways.

In the form of torturous, never-ending tickle fights. It was something she truly hated. Because the damn man had to go and have no discernible weaknesses she could exploit.

Of course, they hadn't been dating before. It opened a whole new slew of tricks to gain the upper hand. She'd purposefully avoided "accidental grazes" in the past for sanity reasons and uncomfortable situations that would no doubt ensue.

However, as she'd just mentioned, a few things had changed in the past few weeks.

"You know the terms." Sebastian inserted evenly into her thoughts, twisting his thumb to another angle, causing Pandora to arch up off the couch in response, a cross between a cry and laughter passing her lips.

He sometimes wished there was a way to shut down the sensors connecting Pandora to the pleasure center in his brain. So there could be comfortable horsing around without the embarrassing side affects. As such that he was trying to avoid by having her underneath him and arching into his touch.

He was ready to be her mate. Not just in the physical sense---although he was really looking forward to that aspect of their relationship---but all the other little things that came along with it.

Like rightful possession rights. Now that they were dating, he got even more territorial than usual. He'd even sub-vocally growled at Mason the day before when their younger friend tried to hug Pandora. Thankfully, only Pandora had heard short unwarranted show of possessiveness, but the look she had directed at him over Mason's shoulder had been murderous. He knew they had a long way to go, and he was slightly afraid of what he might do while he was hanging out in limbo. However, he'd waited this long for her acceptance, he could hold out awhile longer. Hopefully without injuring or full out killing anyone in the process.

"Never." Pandora exclaimed defiantly, a determined glint in her glistening eyes.

"Are you sure?" Sebastian asked, pinning her with a speculative gaze, bringing one hand up and waggling his fingers in front of her face. He then started humming the Jaws theme under his breath as he began to lower his other hand to her side.

Her eyes widened fractionally and she started attempting to squirm away in earnest.

"That's not fair. You agreed to never use both hands at the same time." Pandora stated in a scandalized tone, trying to pitch him off with her hips.

"I won't have to if you tell me what I want to hear." Sebastian retorted, a small frown forming between his eyebrows every time her body connected with his. His thumb found purchase and he'd barely dug in when she relented.

"Alright, alright!" Pandora conceded with a huff. "Sebastian is the greatest man in all Terminal City and can beat anyone any day at any Wii game ever created." Pandora finished in a rush, her face all red and drops of moisture escaping her eyes from having laughed so hard.

"There. That wasn't so hard." Sebastian pointed out, a victorious expression on his face as he pulled his thumbs away from her sides to rest his elbows outside hers.

"You should have held out for more." Pandora chided sternly, schooling her face into a blaise expression.

"Is that so?" Sebastian questioned with a grin.

"Oh yeah. Definitely." Pandora replied seriously, a sly smile fighting its way to her lips.

"Well I can't really force you to do _too_ much, it's a lot more fun for you to agree without any coercion." Sebastian retorted, leaning his head against one hand and the back of the couch.

"That _is_ true." Pandora conceded with a shrug. And then a comfortable silence fell between them as they stared each other down.

To hell with the perfect timing. They were having one of those cliched "staring at each other starry-eyed" contests. That was close enough.

"Are you going to kiss me? 'Cause if not, I've got things to do." Pandora stated bluntly, tilting her head to one side inquisitively with a raised eyebrow.

"Are you kidding?" Sebastian asked incredulously, surprise causing him to draw back slightly. "You mean all this time you were waiting for _me_ to make the first move?"

"Uh, duh." Pandora replied obviously, the corners of her lips twitching upwards. "For a girl to cross that last ten percent, a man has to cross the first ninety beforehand."

"Now you're just teasing me." Sebastian accused, shaking his head back and forth disapprovingly as he dropped his hand.

"I'm sorry, but how is that different from any other day?" Pandora offered dryly with a smirk.

The smile was chased away as Sebastian leaned in and brushed his lips against hers, the quickest and most featherlight touch he'd ever given her.

She was sure she was melting into the couch cushions from its sugary sweetness.

"Am I still solid?" Pandora murmured whimsically under her breath. She had that disorienting feeling that she was moving even though she was completely immobile in her current position.

A small chuckle resonated from Sebastian before he dipped his head back down to slant his lips over hers again. She already thought she was insubstantial...

She wouldn't know her nose from her fingertips in a few minutes.

ooosoooo*ooocoooo*ooozooooeo*ooonoooo

Bella shot up as the cascade of foreign emotions slammed into her. She had just been relaxing on her bed, staring into space through the panes of her bedroom window, the world that surrounded her being fairly calm.

No one had ever really been able to figure out specifically what kind of transgenic abilities she had. Being half human and half tele-contortionist, her genetic mishmash could have gone any number of directions.

Mainly, the only reason no one could figure her out was because she refused to spill.

Enhanced strength, sight, and hearing were all a given. The fact that she was an empath was a less than unknown fact that perhaps only her mother had been able to suss out. It was a complete 180 from her mom's, and the ability covered a broad spectrum. While she hadn't inherited her father's sleeping disorder, part of his DNA must have contributed to how spotty her ability was. It was part of the reason why she'd never spoken of having the extra enhancement. One day, it would be bursts of emotions clamoring at her from all angles, nearly driving her to madness from being pulled emotionally in every which direction but her own. The next, clear and precise thoughts from those in close proximity to her. Those days were rough, for you never want to hear negative thoughts from one person directed at another. Especially when you're the subject of those thoughts.

And let's just say that life wasn't exactly sunshine and rainbows for most transgenics.

She still wasn't quite sure which end of the spectrum she preferred.

Her mom acted as a buffer most days, keeping her focused on the day to day routine. But if she could, she would stay inside their apartment for extended periods of time, where she didn't have to worry about invading another person's privacy. Because most of the time, nothing could reach her here. It was part of the reason why Mia had chosen to move to this particular section of TC.

But today, her mom was away, visiting her dad in Jamaica and wouldn't be returning until the end of the week. And something monumental had just happened in her best friend's world.

Something so extraordinary that it had left residual sparks of love and happiness bouncing off the walls of her skull, like a mixed shower of brilliant blue and vibrant purple wrapping around her, coming together to form Pandora's essence. The color periwinkle.

Unfortunately, that wasn't what had her flying off her bed and into her nearest pair of shoes.

It was the wave of anger and jealously that pulsed throughout it.

Which could only mean one thing. And she could only hope that she got to Mason before he did or said something stupid and the metaphorical shit hit the fan. Again.

oooaooo*ooonoooxo*ooowooo*oorooxooo

Apparently, she'd missed the beginning of the confrontation as Bella crashed unceremoniously through the back entrance of Logan and Asha's. Sebastian and Mason were standing nose to nose in the middle of the Cale's living room, with Pandora sitting in the middle of the sofa directly in front of Bella and holding her head in her hands as the two boys argued.

"Dear Lord." Bella muttered under her breath as the testosterone laden anger and hostility settled over her like a wet blanket. Interspersed throughout was a weave of sheer panic and desperation.

It looked as though one of the trio was prepared to bolt at any second. This was one of those pain in the ass turning points their parents had warned them about, and the last time one of those had been set in motion, only one of them had ran from the situation.

"Yeah, well, I got her first." Mason shouted angrily. The moment the words finished leaving his mouth, his eyes widened fractionally and his head turned sharply to look at Pandora guiltily.

A quiet, choking sound that could have been a sob came from Pandora before she dropped her hands from her head and glared at Mason.

"That's just perfect Mason, thanks." Pandora stated snarkily, pushing herself up from her seat. Her shoulder made contact with his as she brushed past Mason, causing him to stumble a few steps to one side as she passed.

"Pandora, what is he saying?" Sebastian asked, a mixture of anger and confusion in his tone. The realization was dawning, but still trying to be denied.

And the metaphorical fan just died from blunt force trama.

"Oh God, Pandora, I'm so sorry. It just came out. It was an accident." Mason apologized, the words stumbling out of his mouth in a flurry.

Pandora held her hand up to her shoulder in a motion for him to stop, the steps she had taken having her back to both the boys. Pandora met Bella's gaze, exuding a withdrawn and mortified expression for a fraction of a second as she silently begged for someone to make the last few minutes to disappear.

"Pandora?" Sebastian asked warily when she stayed silent, her stance rigid.

Pandora then looked down at the floor before she met Sebastian's confused gaze over one shoulder, a haunted, deer in the headlights look rounding out her eyes.

"I...I can't do this now." Pandora said shortly, a catch in her voice. She then severed the gaze and fled. "I have to go."

"Don't run again!" Sebastian called out in a commanding tone as Pandora ducked around Bella and darted through the open door.

She didn't listen.

ooooosooooo*ooocoooo*ooomoo*oooeoooooo

Five seconds after Pandora ran away, Sebastian strode off in the opposite direction, looking to blow off some steam outside the perimeter.

A palpable silence filled the room, engulfing Bella and Mason in its wake.

"Um...sorry I'm late?" Bella supplied uncomfortably to cut through the tension.

Sending Bella a pensive, blank expression, Mason turned sharply on his heel and took off in the direction of his bedroom.

"What are you doing?" Bella asked speculatively, trailing along hurriedly after his confident strides. "Where are you going?" Bella added accusingly, stopping in his doorway as he jerked open his closet door and started thumbing through its contents.

"Out." Mason retorted shortly, plucking his charcoal colored leather jacket from its hangar. Shaking the jacket out, he slipped his arms through the aged, well worn sleeves as he brushed past her.

Looking heavenward, Bella extended her arms out and growled in frustration before dropping them to her sides and ran after him.

She caught up to him as he reached the end of the tunnel back into Terminal City.

"Mason," Bella began cautiously as the door slammed back into its frame, hurrying around to walk beside him, "Perhaps it's too soon trying to go after Pandora..."

"I'm not going after Pandora. Let her do whatever she damn well pleases for all I care." Mason bit out disparagingly, veering off to the opposite end of TC. Back to where the storage sheds were lodged.

Bella frowned but continued after him. She had to keep an eye out for him. Who knew how much toxicity he had built up in his system over the years? It hadn't shown any visible physical side effects yet, and the regular transfusions appeared to keep him healthy, but who knew when he might keel over?

And she still didn't totally believe him about the Pandora aspect yet. The jealousy and worry were warring against each other and leaking off of him like aftershocks of an earthquake in the middle of the ocean.

Besides, she'd be kind of pissed too if she came across Mason and Pandora making time on _her_ couch in _her_ living room. But, from the conversation that had just been had, and the fact that he'd sort of confessed to it over breakfast after the first fallout, she was glad she'd missed stumbling across that particular happening.

Especially if the multiple bursts of feel good emotions that had kept her awake the night that Pandora had disappeared over a year ago were anything to go by. She'd have probably rung someone's neck in a blinding rage that she wasn't the one in that girl's position.

It really was too bad that their places of permanent residence were less than five minutes away from each other, the closest of the transgenic three of the group. If she had known what kind of effect Mason had on her or the fact that it was ground zero to all the serious melodramatic happenings of their lives, she would have asked her mother to move them closer to the hot zone by the front gate.

"Here we are." Mason said, stopping in front of a medium sized storage unit with a keypad. He then stepped up to the alarm and punched in the simple 911 three digit code.

Stopping short, Bella shuffled her feet and debated fleeing in the opposite direction as she recognized what would be on the other side of the door.

"Uh uh." Bella refused blatantly, shaking her head negatively when Mason grabbed her hand and commenced with tugging her closer to the now open shed. And the motorcycle Alec and Max kept in storage for "emergency use" only. "There is no way I'm going anywhere near that deathtrap. You couldn't pay me to get on that...that..._thing_." Bella finished repugnantly, turning her nose up.

A simple black and silver twin of Max's beloved Ninja became illuminated as Mason dragged a reluctant Bella to the ramp of the shed.

"Wow." Mason breathed in awe as he dropped Bella's hand, stepping inside and letting a hand glide along the smooth chrome and metal finish.

"This isn't exactly what Alec and Max meant by an emergency." Bella continued in a matter of fact tone, her eyes narrowing at the love Mason was showing the bike before him. She honestly couldn't see it herself. "We could always just borrow a car. Cars are nice...and have four wheels, a steering wheel, a radio, and comfortable seats. C'mon Mason, we don't really need to take the bike." Bella finished in a pleading tone, stepping forward tentatively to tug at his arm encouragingly.

"Jeez. Pandora wasn't kidding." Mason said incredulously, staring at her curiously as he gently tugged his arm back. "What kind of transgenic are you if you don't like motorcycles?"

"The half breed kind that likes to keep all her body parts securely inside a moving vehicle." Bella spat out defensively, aggravation creeping into her tone. So she was, like, the only transgenic within the Seattle city limits that didn't gravate towards the nearest crotch rocket. Big deal. There had to be a least one, right?

"Come on, Bell. Don't be like that." Mason said complacently, looking up at her as he held the handlebars and kicked up the kickstand. Wheeling the bike out of the shed and down the ramp, he picked up one leg and straddling the bike in one smooth motion. "This is the quickest way out of here. Getting a car would raise too many questions I don't feel like answering yet. Besides, I'm almost as good on this thing as Pandora or Max. Don't you trust me?"

Bella's eyes narrowed and her lips narrowed to a thin line.

"Trust is hardly the issue." Bella answered shortly, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Then what else is there?" Mason queried innocently, tilting his head curiously and smiling with that wry curl of one side of his lip.

Bella wouldn't deny that the "rebel without a cause" look came to him naturally.

"It's the principle of the matter." Bella huffed after a pause, her resistance wavering. "I wouldn't expect you to understand."

Mason continued to stare at her blankly before he redirected his gaze towards the space behind him, patting the seat for emphasis.

Bella unfolded her arms and pushed the door of the shed closed. Crossing the space separating her from the bike, she pulled a hair tie from the pocket of her jeans and threw her hair into a messy bun.

"This does not make me your bitch, do you understand me?" Bella stated shortly, putting one hand on his shoulder to step up and settle in behind him. She couldn't just let him go off on his own. He might need her.

"Duly noted." Mason said, a disarming charm smile lighting his face as he started the motorcycle.

ooooosoooo*ooocoooo*ooozoooooo*

"For the love of God...what the hell...?" Pogue stated flatly as he laid eyes on who was standing on his doorstep. He should have known before he even opened the door. She was the only unexpected visitor he ever had. "We cannot keep meeting like this."

"I needed a place to crash." Pandora returned simply as she shoved her way past him through the doorway.

"Why don't you come in?" Pogue asked sarcastically, scanning the sky and weather conditions before shutting the door behind him.

He followed her into the living room where she curled into a ball on his couch.

"Are you at least _dry_ this time?" Pogue asked in a deadpan tone.

ooovooonoo*ooxoooo*ooomooooo*oooowo

Pogue stood vigilantly next to the front door until Sebastian knocked tentatively. Cracking the door open, Pogue motioned him inside before he could say anything.

Confused, Sebastian looked around the threadbare room. Compared to last time, he hadn't thought it would be that easy.

"Jeez, man. Took you long enough to get here. She's been in there mumbling incoherently ever since she fell asleep a few hours ago." Pogue whispered in an irritated tone, one hand holding his back as he held out the other in the direction of the living room.

"I thought I'd give her some space before I came after her." Sebastian answered in a subdued tone. He then frowned at Pogue pretentiously. "Well, why didn't you just wake her up then? Or better yet, even let her in in the first place?" Sebastian asked as he took careful steps towards the room in question.

"You don't think I've tried? She's growled at me every time I move to touch her. She damn near broke my arm off when I attempted to shake her." Pogue muttered in response, glaring at the girl laying curled up innocently on his loveseat. Love, that girl was not showing him.

"I've got it from here." Sebastian said after he rolled his eyes. If the antisocial transgenic had spent anytime at all with others of his kind, he would know not to physically touch a slumbering one. Especially one having a bad dream.

"Careful!" Pogue hissed in warning, clasping one hand around Sebastian's shoulder as he leaned over Pandora. "She's lightening quick despite the restful pose. A sleeping serpent, that one. Will strike without any warning."

Looking over his shoulder at Pogue with a droll glare, he pinched Pogue's middle finger between his thumb and index finger to push the opposing appendage away.

"If you would just step away, I told you everything's under control." Sebastian returned coolly, shooing Pogue over to the other side of the room.

Turning his focus back to Pandora, he knelt before her in a squat, his knees framing hers as he reached out one hand to caress her face with his fingertips. A featherlight touch to alert her gently to his presence.

"What's going on inside that gorgeous mind of yours?" Sebastian mused aloud.

"That's something all of us would like to know." Pogue muttered darkly from his corner, his arms folded across his chest.

Sebastian spared him a quick, silencing frown before he stood from his calculating pose. Brushing his hands on his pants, he then swung his arms back and forth a few times, the joints cracking in his back and shoulders. Leaning forward, he slid one arm underneath Pandora's knees and hooked the other around her shoulders and heaved her upward. Her head immediately turned into his chest and her fingers curled into the fabric of his shirt.

"How did you do that?" Pogue asked, curiosity and wonder hidden underneath a layer of snark.

Sebastian sent a roguish smile in Pogue's direction as he started for the door. He leaned in closer to Pogue's ear as he met him in the open front doorway.

"It's in the skin privileges." Sebastian answered with an arrogant air, before standing upright and walking out into the night with Pandora cocooned in his arms.

ooouoooo*oooxoorooo*oonooooo*oooaooeooo

**A/N**: Oh my God, my notes are becoming long enough to be drabbles on their own! I'll try and keep this end one short. Did you find the two references? Both were in the first scene. The Hitch reference was the 90 and 10 line, and the other was when she was pinned down and wouldn't let her up until she admitted he was the greatest. I can't even remember the character's names in the movie, but it seemed so familiar after I wrote it that I had to stand in front of my DVD collection until the movie called out to me. I love when something comes together in my brain. (Alright, so maybe it wasn't as short as I'd have liked.)


	16. Violet

**Author's note**: Oh my God! This chapter was such an absolute pain in the ass to write! I'm not real good with angsty drama and suspense, as some of you may well know. It's part of the reason why it seems like I've been avoiding all of you. Mostly it's because we're so close to the end, and it's making me sad! But look, Quicksilver's Queen, I did update this month, lol! This chapter is kind of depressing, but you won't hate me for long...I hope. You'll see what I mean.

**Music suggestions**: 'Stricken' by Disturbed, 'I'd come for you' by Nickelback, 'Sacrifice' by Theory of a Deadman, 'The good life' by Three Days Grace.

**Disclaimer**: Nope, don't own DA. Just trying to keep it alive by spreading the word in my own little way.

Violet

Pandora realized two things when she woke up. One, she was bound and shackled to a chair of some sort, and two, her head hurt like a bitch.

Neither realizations could mean well for her current predicament. For reasons unknown, she'd been kidnapped.

Her parents had both warned her that this happened often in the early days of the resistance. Over twenty years later, it was practically a nonexistent phenomena, due in part mostly because there were no bigwig crazies out there that equivocated to the Conclave. Apparently, though, there was at least one.

It still didn't explain how the hell she'd ended up here. She'd been asleep on Pogue's couch, cursing herself for sleeping with Mason, cursing Sebastian for doing the nasty with Bella, and cursing Pogue for not offering her his bed to sleep in. Could Pogue have sold her out? But to who? And besides, she didn't really believe he would. Sure, he had a deep disrespect for just about everybody, but she could tell he wasn't the type to betray his own kind. Especially since she was the only one that visited him without being ordered to do so.

So if he didn't betray her, did that mean that he was kidnapped too? Perhaps in the same building with her?

She surveyed her surroundings. She was in a big, cavernous room, machines long since abandoned sitting idly along the walls. It kind of reminded her of one of those auto assembly plants. Tuning her hearing, she heard two men talking in a corner office about fifty feet from where she was restrained, three other grainy voices, perhaps coming from a walkie-talkie doing perimeter rounds, and a grand total of a shit-load of heartbeats. She was estimating at least twenty, perhaps even as many as thirty or forty. She'd never been decent at separating and classifying different heart rhythms.

It really was too bad she didn't have Bella's freaky sense of reading people so she could figure out what the hell she was doing in this place.

She could only imagine what was going on at home at that moment. If anyone even knew she was missing...

ooocoooeoo*ooooowoosoo*ooozoooooo*

"Where is she?" Sebastian gritted out after he barely entered the room, slamming his fist on the table.

Max and Alec stepped back from the table, not entirely surprised by Sebastian's temper. If anyone cared as much as they did at getting her back, it was him.

"We weren't able to get an exact lock on the location, they hung up before we could get a pinpoint address." Alec explained matter of factly, gesturing to the map in front of him. "But, we have a three block window. She can be anywhere inside this square." He finished, drawing a small square in the top left-hand corner of the map of west Seattle, inside a larger oblong violet-colored shape labeled 'the warehouse district'.

"We have our suspicions about where she's being held, and we could possibly narrow down the field to only a handful of locations within the square." Max added, laying down the printout she'd had in her hand in front of Sebastian. "We're forming recog teams now to scout each of the locations, to narrow down our options even further."

"Give me a team." Sebastian requested in a tone that brooked no arguments. He then turned and started out of the room. He continued speaking as he walked away. "And the location you think is the hottest. I'll be back in fifteen minutes. I need weapons."

ooovoooo*ooowoooozo*ooorooooo

"Sebastian! Don't infiltrate! Do you understand me? Don't go in until we get there!" Alec barked into Sebastian's earpiece, an edge of distress in his voice. "We're five minutes out from your location."

"I know she's in there, I can sense it." Sebastian countered, appearing to be speaking to himself. The other two transgenics on his team were safely on the other side of the building, unaware of his intentions. "And I've got a clear opening. You know I can't wait."

"Sebastian, no! You have no idea what you're up against, what kind of firepower they've got. Do _not_ go in there blind or without backup! That's an order." Max argued, stealing the mic from Alec to speak as he sped along the pitch dark roadway at breakneck speeds. Three other vans containing the corresponding teams each converged with Max and Alec's one by one along the way.

"I'll leave the com link on, but I'm not waiting any longer." Sebastian said, a sense of finality to the phrase. He then crept up towards a sturdy looking pipe running up the length of the building and began to climb.

ooozooooosoo*ooouooooo*oooaoooeoo

Sebastian vaulted over the railing, down from the balcony, landing in a crouch twenty feet in front of Pandora. The five guards surrounding Pandora tightened their formation around her as Sebastian rose and focused a cold, calculating glare on all of them.

"Don't move another step." the guard at point commanded. All five guns were trained on Sebastian.

"Sebastian, no." Pandora whimpered, shaking her head imploringly.

He took a step forward, ducking and rolling at the first two shots fired, rocketing past him harmlessly. The third shot caught him in the shoulder. He grunted at the impact but kept moving closer. He blurred around the next flurry of shots, taking out three of the five guards in quick succession. He shot the fourth guard at point blank through the throat. He was turning towards his final opponent when two shots rang out.

One came from behind the guard, bursting with a sickening crunch through his forehead.

The second shot had also hit its mark.

Sebastian sank to his knees with a look of confusion marring his features. Pandora stared on in horror at the red spot blossoming in the center of Sebastian's chest. She struggled against the bonds in earnest, screaming and thrashing against the chair.

"Check the perimeter, both inside and out." Alec ordered in a booming tone, tucking the gun at the base of his spine. His gaze zeroed in on Sebastian and his daughter, and torment burned in his eyes. "Check for any stragglers. And someone find a damned medic. Now."

Max rushed in with the rest of the team, halting for a moment and gasping in horror beside Alec before rushing forward to cut Pandora loose.

Pandora shot out of the chair before Max could completely saw through the ropes with her pocket knife, falling to the floor in front of Sebastian. Crawling over to him, she sat back on her tucked legs and pulled Sebastian into her lap. Pressing the hole in his back against her knee, Pandora pressed her palm over the oozing wound in his chest. Tears leaked down her face in a torrent as she mumbled soothing encouragements, rocking back and forth.

Sebastian started coughing up blood as he tried to speak.

"Guess you don't have to worry about any competition anymore." Sebastian sputtered out in an attempt at humor.

"Don't speak, Bastian. It'll all be alright. You're gonna be fine." Pandora said in a strong tone, her throat clogged with tears.

Sebastian shook his head negatively as more blood sputtered from his lips.

Max stood behind her daughter, one hand resting comfortingly on Pandora's shoulder. Alec stood a good five feet from the scene, a turbulent look in his eyes and his entire countenance staunch and foreboding.

A wide semicircle began to form around the scene, focused in the center of the building, all quiet and sadly respectful as they watched on helplessly.

"I'm sorry, Pandora." Sebastian croaked out, his hand coming up to his chest to squeeze hers.

At that moment, two transgenic paramedics knelt on the opposite side of Pandora, and tried to pull Sebastian away from her. She growled threateningly.

"Bastian. No, don't go. Please?" Pandora whimpered out. His eyes closed and the stuttering, ragged breaths stopped. His chest stopped moving and a deadly silence reigned. Pandora hugged him tighter to her. "Bastian?" she asked quietly, a last ditch hope that she knew was futile. He was gone.

A loud, raw scream tore its way from inside her, all her pain and regrets echoing off the walls.

Her Sebastian was gone. Forever.

ooomoooaoo*ooouooooro*ooxooeoooo

She shot up in bed, wild eyed and with a slight edge of craziness, nearly head-butting Sebastian in her haste. Taking in her surroundings quickly, the usual disorientation amplified when she noticed that she was back at home in her own bed. If it had all been a dream, she should've waken up on Pogue's couch, right? As far as she knew, she never sleep walked. Had some of it been real?

It was like every other time, only this time, a few of the details carried over. She _remembered_. She remembered holding him in her lap as his life drained out of the bullet holes he'd taken trying to get her back. She remembered him being stolen away from her, only wanting to protect her. She'd lost the love of her life because she couldn't get her shit together. Instead, she kept running away from it. Guilt couldn't even begin to describe how she felt.

And just like before, he was there for her, waiting when she woke up all sweaty and frantic.

"Bastian, I am so so so very sorry! I couldn't control it. I know it sounds lame, but..." Pandora pleaded, gripping the front of Sebastian's t-shirt tightly as tears leaked down her face in rapid succession.

"Pandora, it's alright. I know you couldn't." Sebastian interrupted, cupping her face with his hands. He continued on when she kept shaking and sobbing uncontrollably. "I'm not saying I'm happy about it, but I'm relieved it was with someone as trustworthy and decent as Mason. I was worried close to madness about where you'd ended up, and more importantly, who you ended up with. Did your dad tell you about what I did that first time?" Sebastian asked gently, pushing her hair out of her face, not even trying to resist the urge to constantly touch her.

Pandora nodded, temporarily retracting one hand to wipe her nose. She then emitted a rather unladylike sound in an attempt to pull all the drainage back in. "Nothing too specific, though. And the few details that you told me."

"Yeah, well, after they took me down after chasing me three blocks from the conference room, and started hauling me away, realization began to set in that I probably wouldn't get to mate with you. And my brain cleared enough to know that if I didn't get you, someone else would. I broke free and almost got away. I almost snapped a guy's neck before your dad tased me. I was a little out of it after that, but I remember I kept mumbling that I had to find you. That you'd get hurt if I didn't. But I couldn't tell them it was you because then they'd get the chance that I didn't. So I didn't let anyone know your predicament, that it was you that had gone into heat. I could have stopped it all from happening by telling someone. But I was selfish. From the very beginning."

Pausing, he pulled her hands from his shirt and twined his fingers with his. He took a deep breath to fortify his resolve.

"I shouldn't have lied to you about Bella. None of this would have happened if I'd been man enough to tell you that I was friends-with-benefiting it with your best friend. It's not just you, Pandora. We've all got a piece of the blame. Me, you, Bella, and Mason. I don't hate you. Mason's still probably rightfully angry with both of us, but he's got Bella to look forward to. I don't know if you know this or not, but she's sort of hung up on him. He'll come around eventually. We're all alike like that. We can hold a pretty decent grudge, but we care about each other too much to hold out forever."

"You don't hate me?" Pandora asked in a feeble, yet hopeful, tone. She brought one of their linked hands to her face to wipe the wet tear tracks from her face, the tears and sobbing beginning to subside.

"Good God, woman, no. Of course not." Sebastian retorted emphatically, jerking her into a tight hug. "Jealous as all hell of Mason, definitely. But I love you too much to hate you. Besides, hate usually requires distance, and there's no way I could abandon you like that. Who'd look after you then?" Sebastian teased, squeezing her more tightly to him for good measure.

"Wow." Pandora deadpanned as she attempted to gain some air with her hands pushing on his chest. "And here I thought you had to figuratively as well as literally twist a man's arm to get him to utter the L word."

"What can I say, babe? I'm good at expressing my emotions." Sebastian countered as he relented and let her sit upright.

Pandora snorted and rolled her eyes as she wiped leftover moisture off her face.

"What were you dreaming about?" Sebastian asked in a gentle probing tone as Pandora pulled her hair over one shoulder to braid it.

"You." Pandora replied curtly, her emotions shuttering up in record time.

He knew better than to ask for details.

"Do you want me to stay with you?" Sebastian asked, mostly because he didn't want to leave.

Laying back down, she then moved out of the center and patted the space next to her.

"I'd really like that."

ooooaooo*ooouoooooo*oonoomooo

Well, you recall from way back in "Forest Green" when she had the terrible nightmare that Sebastian caught the tailend of? And how she never remembers what it's about, only how it makes her feel? There you go. When I wrote that scene, I was already thinking about detailing it out in a later chapter. As I mentioned at the beginning, it was a real pain in the ass detailing it out. And since I didn't have the heart to leave you all with a cliffhanger, not knowing whether or not Sebastian was really dead or not, I had to come up with an ending. (It was what I had originally intended to do, but with my sporadic updating schedule as of late...I thought it wise not to do that!)


End file.
